Wolf Chronicles
by IrishWolfLord
Summary: A lone wolf must find vengeance and closure after the death of his pack. But in searching, he will find so much more. Authour's note: This is my first time writing like this so there will be bumps in the road. Also, I do not own any Warhammer related material except for my OCs.
1. Beginnings

_The year is 910 M41 and the Imperium of Man stood as the guardian of Mankind against the countless perils of a dark galaxy. Among its defenders are the Vlka Fenryka, the Space Wolves. Their name is legendary among the servants of the Emperor. One of the greatest chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, they are known for both their ferocity in battle and their complete disregard for any authority but their own. Their love of battle is matched only by their love of feasting and kin. But sometimes, that bond can be broken and reforged into a chain of hatred. That is the fate of one young Bloodclaw. The only survivor of his pack, he has sworn an oath of vengeance against the murderer of his kin. He will hunt this monster from one end of the galaxy to the other if he must. But he should be cautious. The galaxy holds far more terrifying denizens than a single murderer. And many of them look upon a lone wolf far from home not as a dangerous predator, but as prey that is just waiting to fall into their traps. This is the story of one Wolf's quest for redemption and revenge._

Blood. That was the smell that filled his nostrils and pooled in his mouth. His own and that of his pack. Struggling to open one eye, he could see it. His pack, his brothers, all of them, gone. Bjarke, the strongest member was against a boulder with his organs spread out across his legs. Calder, the most stoic bloodclaw of this generation, was impaled with a large spike coming out of his chest plate like it was a piece of cloth. Destin was still smoking from the warp-lightning that had taken his life. The other members of the pack were spread out around him. Even the mighty Wolf-guard that had been assigned to lead them was laying at the feet of the sorcerer. The traitor held the wolf-guard's severed head aloft, as if presenting it to an audience. He said nothing, but seemed to be reveling in his victory. The survivor struggled to move, his super-human body barely responding to his mind's commands. Slowly he pushed his body towards his sword, right where he left it. Weakly reaching, his fingers managed to grasp the sword's hilt before an armoured foot stamped down his hand. Fighting back a howl of pain, he looked up into the sorcerer's eyes, "You are a sorry excuse for a Space Wolf. Come back when you're…" The survivor's vision blurred just as psychic energy built up in the sorcerer's hand, "Stronger…." A flash of light engulfed his vision.

The Space Wolf, Lauf Redclaw snapped awake. His forehead and fire red beard were damp with sweat. His hearts were racing inside his chest. His fists were clenched so tight he thought he would crack the ceramite armour surrounding them. Taking a moment, he steady his hearts and relaxed his hands. But only slightly before he slammed one against the crates next to him. The strike was so hard that it broke the front of the box in two, causing the contents to spill all onto the floor. He sat back and sighed. Every night for the past twenty years it had been the same dream. That same fateful day played over and over in his mind. He had been left alive. Why? Why would that sorcerer, who seemed so intent on killing him, leave him alive? When the Grey Hunters found him, he was still among his pack's corpses. He had been brought back to Fenris, to the great fortress of the Wolves, the _Aett_ or as the rest of the Imperium called it, the Fang. There he had spent solar months recovering his strength and undergoing questions by both his Wolf Lord and the Wolf Priests. When the Wolf priests were satisfied that he had been untainted by Chaos, he had been brought by his lord to the Great Company's armoury. There he had been gifted the same twin-headed frost axe the wolf-guard that led his pack had carried. Along with a set of master-crafted power armour and his frost sword. Before his lord and the priests of his company, Lauf had sworn an oath of vengeance against the traitor sorcerer. He swore that he would not set foot on Fenris again until the traitor's head was in his grasp. From that point, Lauf was truly a lone wolf, leaving his home and company behind as he set off to find this traitor. Since that time he had chased even the faintest rumour that his target was in a system. Sometimes he found evidence that the sorcerer had been there. Sometimes it had turned out to be mistaken identity. But the whole time, Lauf felt the sorcerer just beyond his reach, taunting him. Daring him to keep chasing. That feeling fanned a flame of determination within him and he has never given up the chase.

Now he was entering the Calixis Sector in search of his quarry. The last group of Cultists he had 'interrogated' had told him that the sorcerer was heading for the Hive World of Solomon. As soon as he was able Lauf had boarded a ship bound for that sector. Now he waited while the transport he was on came in to land on one of the upper hive platforms of Solomon. Feeling the ship settle onto solid ground after such an extended time in the Warp, Lauf felt comfortable again. He never liked traveling on ships. He preferred having 'real' ground beneath his feet. But it was the only way to travel to hunt his quarry. So he put aside his dislike and tolerated it. Now though, he readied himself. This would be a period of searching, questioning serfs and minor officials, dodging the powers that be that never like a stranger coming to their world and avoiding the members of the Ecclesiarchy who can be as much a hindrance as a help. Lauf came to these planets only after a trail of clues that he would collect from countless sources including serfs who would not know that their tiny bit of information was valuable to him. Usually he made his presence known as little as possible, preferring to find this information from shadows, always grabbing his sources and quickly interrogating them before tossing them back into their lives, frightened and confused by what had occurred. It disgusted him that he was required to act like a member of the Inquisition to succeed in his hunt. But he had learned that the direct approach always made the sorcerer disappear and move to another world. His presence would not sit well with the nobles, but Lauf did not care. He was an Adeptus Astartes, and some petty noble could not hope to command him and keep his head on his shoulders. Shaking his head to focus on his task, Lauf stepped off of the transport and breathed in the first scents of this polluted, industrial choked planet. He could not pick out the sorcerer's scent with all the other smells filling his nostrils. He knew it would not be that easy, but now it had become routine for him. Taking one last glance at the ship he had used he set off. His first point was to visit an adept of the adminstratium that lived in the upper hive named Decimius. From the description he was a mid-level bureaucrat responsible for compiling the archives of old request forms. Lauf was glad he did not had to stay in the spires. From past experience he knew these nobles were no better than the underhive gangsters they sneered at being literally beneath them. They just hid their rot behind a façade of shiny homes and glittering statues. He never felt right in the spires. There was too many lies there.

Sneaking down into the Upper Hive, Lauf gathered information. At first he was frustrated to learn that many people in this section of the hive had the name Decimius. But he was un-deterred. Fortunately the last informant he had interrogated had given him the scent of the man from a piece of cloth. If the man had aided his prey in anyway, the stink of Chaos would still be on him. And Lauf had learned to recognize that smell long ago. Slowly he worked his way through the section from the shadows, finding a Decimius that was in charge of the work quotas for three manufactorums in the Lower Hive. Another Decimius was responsible for filing the maintenance tunnel crews' promethium request forms. And another Decimius who turned out to be a female prostitute. About prepared to go to another section in his search, Lauf got the wisp of a familiar scent. It was not the sorcerer's. It was the man he was searching for. Following the scent as it got stronger, he spotted the short, balding man walking down the street. Moving as quickly as a Raven guard, he rushed out of his hiding place and grabbed the man and pulled him back into the shadows, "Talk. You know about another Space Marine that came here. Where is he?" Lauf demanded, towering over the short man, "I… I don't know! A serf claimed he had seen a strange Space Marine with blue and gold colourings. I had him sent to the tech-priests and made into a servitor for lying and failing to meet his work quota." Decimius whimpered out before Lauf shoved the man out. This was getting him nowhere. But from what the man said, a serf had seen it, which mean he would had to go deeper into the hive.

Shrinking back into the shadows of the maintenance passages and old tunnels of the Hive City, Lauf moved down towards the Lower Hive. He knew it was still relatively safe here. But he felt uneasy. Normally he would detect a small scent of his quarry by now. But here he could not. The only thing he could smell and sense was a deep fear of….. something. He did not know if it was the sorcerer or something else. But he gripped the hilts of his axe and sword for a small reminder of what he was. Moving through another passage, he stopped when he heard two serfs below him in another passage talking, "So. Aramatus was at it again." "Oh? What this time? He escaped the beast?" "Shhh! Don't make jokes about that! No, this time he claimed to had seen…. A Space Marine!" "One of the Emperor's greatest warriors?! That's impossible!" "I know. But he claimed the Space Marine took elevator 69350 down to the Underhive." Lauf did not wait to hear anymore. He pushed through the passage and through other abandoned sections to get to that elevator. He was certain now. His prey, the murderer of his pack was here. On this world. And soon, Lauf's sword would find his neck.

It took a bit of travelling, but Lauf finally found it. The elevator that the sorcerer had used. He could still smell the small flicker of psychic energy from where he stood. About to step onto the platform he stopped. The area had become strangely quiet. Without thinking he knew. It had been too easy. Too simple. He should had realized it sooner. Spinning around as fast as he could he swung. His axe, yanked off its spot on his hip cut clean through the flesh of the minor daemon of Tzeentch that had transformed behind him. Pulling off his sword at the same time, he plunged its blade into the head of a stupid hiver that thought a large maul used to hammer pipes and nails would be effective against a Space Wolf. Quickly wiping away the blood from both weapons Lauf watched as nearly forty cultists and daemons came out of the structures around him, "Behold brothers and sisters! Our lord and master had foreseen this foolish slave of the Corpse Emperor come after him. And now we are here to bring him to our lord as he demanded. Brothers and Sisters of the new order, bring our master this one's head!" One man shouted, but Lauf could tell the words were not from the man's own mind. He was no psyker, but he had chased this sorcerer long enough to recognize a victim of daemonic possession when he saw it. The man was now nothing more than a puppet for some creature of the warp. As soon as he was done babbling the horde of traitors charged at Lauf.

The lone wolf was not afraid. The daemons may give him some trouble but this mob of hivers carried only scrounged together weapons and auto-guns. He moved through them, cutting and hacking away at anyone that came close enough. He lopped off limbs, decapitated daemon and human-alike all the while avoiding their mass attacks until he reached the 'leader' of this gang. Swinging his sword at its stomach, the possessed human threw up a barrier of psychic energy. Almost as soon as his sword struck, his axe came from the other side and hit the barrier. The combined force of two power weapons hitting the daemon's barrier caused it to crack, then splinter and then, fall apart completely. This happened a fraction of a second before the meat-puppet was bisected by Lauf's swings. Letting the body fall to the ground beside him, Lauf turned around and charged at the remaining cultists. They tried to put up a fight, but it was clear that the courage they had was only a result of their overwhelming number. Now that they were shown how little their large number had mattered, they panicked and tried to react before Lauf reached them. None of them were fast enough it seemed as soon, the only living thing left before the elevator was Lauf. Wiping his blades clean he turned around and walked onto the elevator, _You send nothing but trash at me coward. Soon, you won't had anywhere left to hide._ Lauf thought to himself as the elevator began its descent into the depths of the Underhive.

Somewhere hidden within the Eye of Terror, several pairs of eyes watched Lauf enter the elevator through a warp spell of ancient origin, "So far everything is going according to plan! "Indeed. Soon the fool will be ready." The second figure spoke after the first had expressed such joy at the success of their plan before the third glanced away from the orb, "At this rate, we will be able to take revenge on the Space Wolves for what they did to us." The figure glanced back at the orb showing Lauf, "And this naïve bloodclaw is going to help us."

TO BE CONTINUED…


	2. Descent into Darkness

The ride into the underhive took some time. Lauf watched outside the platform as the quality of the surrounding hive city degraded with every minute he travelled down. Every so often he noticed underhivers watching from hiding places before vanishing back into the passages. Lauf glanced up as he kept going down. He could see the mass of Hive City reaching up above him, blocking out any natural light from this planet's star. This was the reality of these denizens. Darkness and desperation as he reached the bottom of this elevator. Looking down, Lauf could see thanks to his enhanced eyes and nose a gathering crowd of desperate underhivers, waiting for things to come down from above. Expecting a fight, Lauf did not have to deal with the crowd as a riot broke out over spots nearest to the platform's landing. Stepping out of the elevator, he moved away from the fighting underhivers and began to hunt for scents of his target. The underhivers he passed pulled back from this strange giant walking through the collapsed passages and ancient alleys. Their faces were sunken, their eyes lacked the glint of life. To Lauf they did not appear human. They did move through the darkened streets with ease though. Even Lauf's enhanced eyes could not see that well in the blackened streets. But he did not need to rely on his eyes. His nose, as astute as the Fenrisian wolves that stalk the frozen lands of his homeworld gave him a clear image of his surroundings.

Holding his axe and sword at the ready, he searched through the underhive's many nooks and cracks. The smells of this place were all mixed together, creating a messy image of scents. In the distance Lauf could hear a fight break out. It could be gangs fighting over territory, a source of water. Or even a piece of non-moldy bread. It did not matter, he had learned that in the Underhive, life was perhaps cheaper than anywhere else in the Imperium. When he rounded a corner, he found his way blocked by a group of men. Their attire was normal for the underhive, but the auto-guns slung across their chests told him what they truly were. The leader of this gang came forward, "Don't know what you are stranger. But you're trespassing on pipe-scum territory. And pipe king doesn't like that. Not without getting tribute from you for his… 'generosity' for letting you leave." He commented as Lauf flexed his fingers, "You obviously woke up with a rock against your head whelp if you think I'm going to pay tribute to this 'king' of yours. I only recognize one king and one Emperor." He retorted while the gang members got off from their spots, "See I was hopin' you'd say that. Then we get to bring your corpse to Pipe-king and keep what we want from…." The last thing the leader saw was a flash of blue-grey energy as his head came apart at the middle of the nose, polluted blood spray out of the arteries and splattering the walls. The other gangsters did not have time to regret their decision as Lauf charged forward. He was not going to tolerate these gangsters thinking they could block a Space Marine's way and not suffer consequences. Cutting through them, his path of carnage was stopped only when a pair of large mutants appeared. They were about the same size as Ogryns, but were not abhumans. They were something different. But he had faced far worse already. One of the mutants swung a large club made from a piece of pipe. Lauf dodged to the side of the swing and ran up the pipe to stand on top of the first mutant beast. Slashing its arms as he ran up, Lauf dug his axe into one side of its neck and swung his entire body around the head as a pivot point. Using the force of his swing, he delivered a strong kick with both legs dead centre of the second mutant's face. The sound of bone breaking echoed through the alleyway while the first mutant's head fell clean from its shoulders after the axe had cleaved through all its tissue with Lauf's swing.

Landing on the ground, Lauf glared at the remaining humans who were struggling to stop their bleeding wounds, every one of them a fatal blow. It did not take long for the rest of the gangsters to die. Almost as soon as the last one died, other denizens began to crawl out of their hiding places and look hungrily at the dead bodies and their weapons. Lauf did not wish to stay around to see the results of this gathering. Turning away, he made his way further into the underhive trying to find some evidence of the sorcerer. More sounds of battle came to his ears from further off, but he knew the sorcerer would not be around there. He never seemed to stay around battlefields even if he had helped start the fight between loyal citizens and easily fooled traitors. As Lauf searched, he noticed how many of the passageways simply dropped down into the black abyss below. This drop varied from a few inches between pipes to large gorges large enough to drive a land-raider through. What made him suspicious was that none of the underhivers seemed to stay anywhere near these gorges. There was no evidence of settlements or any other form of human habitation. Lauf needed to locate a 'friendly' settlement within this tangled maze of pipes, broken alleyways and collapsed chasms. So far he was not having much success. The people living here seemed to retreat like rats into their holes whenever he approached. And his size made it virtually impossible to follow into most of the passages.

He did not understand why these people ran whenever he got close to them. What was it about this place that caused all of these people to be so terrified? _Are they afraid of me because they had never seen…. Of course they have never seen a Space Marine you foolish pup. But that's not it….. Is it….. those chasms?_ He thought as he leapt across one of the chasms while still searching for any sign of settlement. Everything he had been told about Hive cities made him believe that the underhive would be filled with such settlements. Instead all he had encountered one gang. And numberless wretched souls that ran from him. Stopping at one point to allow his body to rest, he found a small alcove made from a collapsed wall with only one point of entry. Sitting down so he faced towards the narrow passage he came through, Lauf put his axe and sword across his lap before letting his mind drift into unconsciousness. Again the vision came back. Again Lauf woke up with sweat on his beard. A big difference this time was the appearance of a small pale human crawling across his legs, trying to drag away his frost axe. Reacting, Lauf grabbed the small being by its back and lifted it up to look right at him, "A child? What are you doing here?" He demanded while looking into the child's eyes, "Are you a giant servitor?" The child asked as Lauf sat stunned for a bit, "No. I am Vlka Fenryka." He replied, using the title of his chapter in his homeworld's dialect. He noticed that the child just started at him blankly, "I am a Space Marine." "The Emperor's warrior!?" The child asked excitedly, clapping her hands together in rapid succession.

Lauf looked over the girl. She was barely larger than a seven year old child. Her skin was white. Not the white like the snow of Fenris, but a sickly creamy white that was like bone. Her eyes were yellowish-green, no doubt a result of the toxic environment in which she dwelled. When she smiled, he could see all her teeth were black and several were cracked from this harsh existence, "How did you get inside here little pup?" He kept holding her by the soiled rag that served as the only clothing she had, "Through the tunnels." She said, pointing towards a small hole in the wall to Lauf's left. He stood up and looked into the passage. It was darker in there than anywhere else except for the chasms everyone down here was terrified of, "Where do these lead?" He asked, lifting the girl up so she can look directly at his face, "It leads to the safe place." "Safe place?" She pointed into the tunnel, "Where the Emperor protects his children. I can show you." She was very excited at the prospect of showing Lauf this place whatever it was, "Pup. I cannot fit through there." Lauf did not want to stifle her enthusiasm, but he needed to bring her back to reality before she got too many ideas in her head. The little girl looked down, "I can show you a way over to the place warrior." She offered. Lauf thought about it for a second, "Can you avoid the gangs?" She smiled, "A game?!" She asked. Lauf gave her a small grin, "Yes. It will be a game. If you lead me to this safe place and we do not run into any gangs, you win." Lauf did not fear these underhive scum, but like the Great Wolf he cared about the innocent citizens of the Imperium. He would not let this small child be hurt because of him, even if he just met her, "Ok!" She managed to wiggle herself free of Lauf's hold and started to pull on his armoured hand, trying to get him to follow. Setting his sword onto his hip and holding his axe in his free hand, Lauf stood and let the young girl pull him out of the alcove.

The small girl led Lauf down passages even an Inquisitor would not have noticed. They move across rusting pipes which appeared unable to hold any more weight, but stayed sturdy as Lauf crossed. He stayed quiet as the little girl kept walking, always holding his hand, "What is your name child?" Lauf asked when they stopped so a gang of thugs left a side spot where some gruesome sounds had come from, "Astra my lord." Astra smiled, "Star." Astra tugged on his hand when the gang left. They kept moving through the part of the underhive until they came to one of the pitch-black chasms. Astra gave a small shriek of fear when she looked at the chasm and hid behind Lauf, "Why are you so frightened Astra? What is in those chasms?" He looked at Astra shivering by his legs, "The Beast." She whimpered, "Beast? What beast?" He asked, turning around and kneeling down to look right into Astra's eyes, "The Beast of Solomon. The creature that must be satiated for us to survive." She said in a whisper. This was not like when they were getting to this point and avoiding the street battles. This was a whisper of pure terror, "No beast will harm you Astra. Not while I'm here." He tried to reassure her, but all this did was make her shake her head, "No my lord. The Beast always has its due." She looked into his eyes with tears falling down her cheeks. Lauf could tell that whatever this beast is, it terrified Astra.

After a little bit of time Lauf stayed silent for Astra to calm herself, she walked over to the wall of pipes. She reached inside and pulled on some piece of metal. Lauf looked across the chasm to see a part of the wall started dropping. It stopped just in front of him while Astra came back to his side, "Our safe place my lord. Hidden from the rest of this horrid place." She explained, shakily holding his hand as they started walking across the bridge. Astra stayed next to Lauf the whole way, looking only at his face. He glanced down, trying to pierce the darkness with his eyes or smell something with his nose. No sights or smells gave him anything about what could be down there. He stopped looking down there when they got close to the other side. As soon as they were across the bridge came up behind them and locked back in place as a dozen children, as pale and gaunt as Astra came out of side passages. The area was larger than any chamber he had seen in the Underhive with several off-shoot passages made from the pipes and broken architecture of this portion of the Hive. The children all crowded around Lauf, looking at him and his strange armour. Astra pulled Lauf towards one section which looked like an old spire mansion that fell down from the top of the Hive. Inside there was a room lit by many candles and smelling of incense smoke. Astra stopped at the door, "You have to go on alone my lord." Lauf noticed that Asta seemed hesitant when she said that. Lauf gently ruffled her hair before he did as she said. Inside he looked towards a small shrine of the Emperor and the loyal primarchs arrayed beneath the statue. As Lauf approached the shrine, he could see two people praying at the shrine. When he got close the two stood up and turned to face him. One was a woman who was at least in her late fifties, by Terran standards. The other figure's face was hidden by a cloak, but the shape was that of a man, "What are you…." "Sister Mylene. There is no need to be rude. Especially not to one of the Emperor's greatest warriors. Welcome to our sanctuary, Space Marine." The man said as Mylene looked at him, "Go see to the children Mylene." Mylene glanced from the hooded man to Lauf, "I'll be fine. The Emperor protects." Mylene nodded before walking out past Lauf, "She is very protective of me. Understandable given our location. But you know don't you Space Marine. That there are far worse things in this galaxy. Please." The hooded man motioned for Lauf to sit down on a makeshift pew across from him. Here he might get some answers about this place and his target.

The man sat down in front of Lauf, "I imagine you have questions?" "Yes. First, what is this place?" "A sanctuary. It was thus for me, and later, for my flock." The man smiled underneath the hood, "You see. I was a humble missionary, coming down to spread the word of the God-Emperor. But not everyone here was willing to listen to the Emperor's light." He pulled back his hood. Lauf looked into milk white eyes, "The one called Pipe King thought he could stop me seeing the Emperor's light. But I see it now stronger than ever." He said proudly, "Here I serve the Emperor, shining light in the darkness." "And the children." Lauf asked as the man sat back, "They come to me. They have nothing. I give them faith. It shields them against the horrors of this place." Lauf remembered Astra's reaction when the got here, "Not enough it seems. Because even Astra was terrified of that chasm. But that is not why I am here. Missionary, I need information. I am tracking a traitor, a sorcerer. He was seen somewhere down here. Have you heard anything about this?" The man put one hand to his chin, "Hmmm. I must say I have not heard of any such thing my lord." Lauf growled, "Always so close yet so far." He grumbled to himself, "Did you come here only to hunt this traitor my lord?" The man was blind, but Lauf felt that he was looking through him, "Yes I am. I did not come to clear this world of scum." The man nodded, "I understand. I am glad that Astra found you. The Emperor sent me a vision of your arrival." Lauf wanted to ask what he meant that he had a vision when Mylene came in with two goblets filled with drink. She offered the drinks to the two men. Lauf took the goblet at the same time the Missionary took the cup that Mylene set in his hand, "Let us thank the Emperor for your arrival my lord." The missionary held out his goblet to which Lauf clanged his against it, "Thank the Allfather." He said before downing the cup with the old man, "The chasm missionary. What is it…" Lauf stopped, he felt strange. He tried to stand up, only for his legs to give out and for him to fall to the floor. Reaching up towards the missionary, his vision got blurry, "Forgive me my l…" Was all the man said before Lauf went unconscious.

His head felt heavy, his arms stiff as the world stopped spinning. Lauf did not know how much time had passed, or what had been hidden to him. One thing he did know, no ordinary poison could have knocked him out like that. Whatever the 'missionary' gave him was developed to harm an Astartes. Becoming fully aware, Lauf noticed that his body was covered in chains, holding him in place. _Not for long_ he thought before pushing his arms out and snapping the chains free. Shaking himself off, Lauf looked around to get his bearings. It was dark, darker than any place he had been on Solomon. Looking up he could see the passageways and walks of the underhive. So he was still beneath the city, he knew that much. But where in the Emperor's name did….. A low moan behind him drew his attention away from his destination problem. His body tensed as a faint wiff of some scent he had never met wafted into his nose. Turning around, the scent got stronger in his nose as a pair of dark-golden eyes looked at him from the darkness. Lauf immediately drew his weapons. Whatever the owner of those eyes was, by their look Lauf knew it was not harmless. Suddenly it rushed towards him. As it rushed past him Lauf swung and felt his axe bite into the creature but it did not stop it. He felt its claws rake his side between his upper and lower armour. He was lucky as it did not penetrate the armour, but it vanished into the dark before he could slash it again. Glancing down at his axe, he noticed how the blood hissed away, _Strange_. He was brought out of his pondering when the growling could be heard again, followed shortly by something striking his back. He swung again only to miss this time. This happened several more times as Lauf got more angry with each pass. Just then he smelt something. Promethium was leaking somewhere nearby and that gave him an idea. Rushing in the direction of the smell, he could hear a dripping sound underneath the beast following him. Stopping when he found the spot, Lauf turned and faced the glowing eyes.

The creature moved towards him, intent on finishing its kill. When it got close enough, Lauf dragged his sword down the metal wall, creating sparks that ignited the promethium which erupted in a burst of flame and light, temporarily blinding the creature and letting Lauf see it. It was as large as a Space Marine, but hunched over. It had black furry patches across its body and powerful forelimbs. Each foot ended in thick elongated claws that made the cut marks across his armour. The creature growled and lunged at Lauf. Now that he saw it, Lauf swung up with both weapons. Blood and the front legs of the beast fell to the floor. The creature howled in anger and pain when it hit the floor and struggled to stand up on the stumps of its front legs. Trying to run away, it howls in conjunction with the sound of bone snapping as Lauf stomped on its hind leg. Turning around, it tried to snarl and intimidate him. Lauf simply grinned, "Your terror of this world ends beast." His axe came down as he finished. He watched the beast's head rolled across the floor into the promethium fire. They were free. Lauf stopped when he heard a low moan. Louder than before. Turning to look down one hallway, he saw over a dozen pair of the same golden eyes looking at him just as the fire began to die down. Lauf readied his weapons to fight, but a voice echoed in his head, _Run pup._ As the eyes came towards him, he took that advice. Sprinting as fast as his legs could move, Lauf rushed towards the nearest source of cleaner smelling air. Every so often he glanced back to see the eyes right behind him. Coming to one hallway, he saw another of the transport elevators waiting. Stopping only for a second to thank the Allfather he darted towards it, just avoiding another of the creature's hitting him with its claws. When he got to the elevator, he turned back and got an idea. Quickly pulling out his sword, he cut one of the pipes that formed the entrance to that section of passages. The entrance creaked and bent. Just before the creatures got to him the whole entrance collapsed in front of them and the weakening of the supports caused the rest of the tunnel to collapse into a pile of metal. Lauf did not wait to see if any of the creatures survived as he got onto the elevator and rode it up.

Coming to the place Astra led him, Lauf had both frost weapons out when he noticed the bridge was down. He crossed slowly, watching for any signs of traps when a scent came to him. Immediately abandoning caution he raced across and came to the 'open' area where the missionary and sister seemed to be waiting, "Lord Space Marine. I see the beast did not claim you. Perhaps it rejected you out of…" 'Sister Mylene' was unable to say anything else as Lauf silenced her with a blow from his sword, slashing her across the chest. As she fell, her scream of agony turned to a cry of joy, "Oh now it will be fun!" Her form mutated and changed until he looked at the familiar appearance of a daemonette. Lauf quickly swung at the missionary, only to be blocked by a pink hand. He growled as the Horror finished transforming, "Our master will be so pleased with us!" The Daemonette cackled as it lunged at Lauf's head, only to lose its arm at the shoulder. Screaming and clutching at the wound, the Daemon did not have time to react when Lauf's axe cleaved its mortal form in half from the top of its head down to the middle of its core. The horror witnessed its fellow Daemon's demise and tried to get away, but Lauf had managed to grab its arm, "Go back to the hell you came from daemon. FOR RUSS!" He shouted, stabbing the Horror straight through the head, watching it burn away in warp fire. He wiped some of the daemon blood he got on his face off before cleaning his weapons and turning to go, "Lord Space Marine!" He stopped when he felt a tug on his arm. Looking down, he saw Astra staring up at him, "What will become of us?" She asked, motioning to the group of children that came out of the tunnels. Lauf smiled.

In the Upper Hive city, the Order of the Eternal Candle's mother superior, in charge of the small clinic station in this section of the hive was stunned when a Space Wolf literally came through her locked doors with a gaggle of children following him like pups. Lauf only said these children needed aid and the sister ran off to rouse the rest of her order present. In a scant few minutes, all the sisters were up and looking over the children, aiding them in whatever way they could. The mother turned her attention to Lauf, "My lord. Thank you for bringing these children to us. We will see they are sent to the Schola Progenium for proper education." Lauf nodded, "Good. That is what I wanted to hear." He turned to leave, "Wolf!" He stopped and looked back. Astra had run up and was hugging his leg, "Please don't go." She begged him with tears in her eyes. The mother put her hands gently onto her shoulders, "Come my child. The Space Marine must return to his duties." She said softly before Lauf kneeled in front of Astra, "I have my own tasks to perform in service of the Emperor Astra. And that requires I leave this place. Do you understand?" She nodded while fighting back tears, "Will I…. ever see you again?" She asked as Lauf smiled before putting a hand on her tiny shoulder, "Someday we will see each other again." He stood up and left the clinic, heading for the spaceport on the Spires. The Sorcerer was not here, the trail had gone cold. He had to find him, and soon.

* * *

A loud cackle echoed through this place in the warp as two of the figures watched Lauf, "He doesn't know?" "Of course not. He's a foolish savage." They grinned as Lauf's cheek twitched where some of the daemon blood had spilled, "Our servant had done well. It is in his blood. Soon we will see how effective it is. Our revenge may come sooner than we first planned. But of course, we planned for that too. Those pathetic dogs of Russ will rue the day they turned against our lord and master. And it will come from one of their own. Just. As. Planned." The two figures laughed with glee as the image of Lauf disappeared.


	3. The Wolf with No Pack

The travel off-planet was dull. Lauf sat inside one of the main cargo holds of the Gothic cruiser _Imperious Fury_ that was leaving for the next sub-sector. It had not taken much for the captain to tolerate Lauf's inclusion on his ship. The man was more than happy to have a Space Marine on board as long as he did not interfere with his crew. When Lauf had gone onto the ship, he asked the captain for two things. The first was transportation to the next sub-sector. The second was to be given any news if his astropathic choir received any messages regarding reports of sorcerous power usage when they arrived. The captain agreed to this request quickly and without question. Now Lauf sat alone on a crate marked with the seal of the Departmento Munitorium. He could smell the gunpowder within the crate. The scent told him the box was filled with mortar shells of different types. He thought about the sub-sector he was searching next. He wondered if it would already be plunged into war by one of the countless enemies of the Imperium, or had just recovered from such an attack. He smirked while glancing down at his weapons. If there was some invasion happening, they would learn that humanity was not some helpless babe waiting to be picked apart by the denizens of this galaxy. Its countless defenders would purge any and all enemies of mankind, no matter the cost. He sat back and closed his eyes. He fought away the memory of that accursed day and let his mind wander much further back. To another fateful day, when his future was decided.

Waves crashed as thunder erupted in the sky above. Lauf struggled up on the deck of the small longship and looked around. His island, his home and his clan were gone, consumed by the sea during the time of Fire and Water that struck Fenris at the turn of every Great Year. Now he was alone on the raging sea. The snapping sound drew Lauf's focus to the sail shaking as the ropes holding it began to loosen. He rushed over to the side of the longship. Grabbing the rope he pulled it hard and tied each one off until the sail stopped shaking. Tying off the last rope, Lauf looked to the horizon. He could not survive alone out on the worldsea. Some other tribe will find him and no doubt kill him for his ship. He needed to get to Asaheim. The continent was always there, unchanging. If he got there, he might find one of his tribe's allies and a chance to start again. When night came overhead, Lauf anchored his longship between two large rock pillars that shot out of the ocean like the teeth of one of the sea dragons that his tribe hunted. After he finished tying off both sides of the ship to the rock, he went inside the hut and looked around. The hut had everything he needed to survive for a time out here. fishing hooks and spears sat on one corner in a clean pile. Spare ropes made from seaweed fibres harvested over the years and the tools to repair any damage were stacked on top of a salt barrel. Set in bundles at the sleeping area of the hut was an assortment of furs from all sorts of creatures including Fenrisian wolves, Great White Bears, Elk and even the hide of a snow troll. The pelts were set next to the stone hearth filled with sand to keep the fire in control. He moved some of the coals to keep the fire at a low burn. He did not need his ship burning during the night. Lauf grabbed one roll of furs, the one his mother had prepared for the hunts he took with his father and older brother. Rolling them out next to the fire, he fought back tears of sadness and anger at the loss of his family. Finishing the bed, Lauf took his tunic off and set his steel axe down beside the bed before pulling a wolf pelt over him. Getting comfortable, he fell into a deep sleep while outside his ship, a pair of eyes was looking down at the longship, wondering if the boy on it would prove worthy.

Lauf woke up when a breeze of wind blew into the hut. Rubbing his eyes, he pulled himself out of the bed. Pulling his tunic back on, he rolled the furs back up and grabbed some fishings line before he walked out of the hut. Going towards the prow of the longship he checked over the ropes holding the boat against the rocks. Pleased they stayed taught through the night Lauf set a piece of meat on the hooks of each line. Throwing them as far out as he could, he tied the other end off on the prow. Knowing he was going to have to wait for the fish to start biting, Lauf busied himself cleaning up the few things across the deck of his longship. Tossing some chunks of rocks and flotsam overboard, Lauf noticed one of his lines was shaking while the sun was beginning to creep over the horizon. This gave the surface of the World-Sea a beautifully dark colour like golden blood. Now was not the time to enjoy the view though as his stomach reminded him of the shaking fish line. Running over, Lauf gripped the line and pulled with all his strength. The line came up then was yanked back down by whatever was on the other end. Lauf grunted and tugged again, pulling the line up slowly but surely. Whatever he caught had a lot of fight in it. But he had more. Struggling he finally managed to get the line up so he could see the creature fighting on the other end. It was a juvenile ripperfish, not fully grown. But it was still large enough to shred his flesh if he does not kill it quickly. Grabbing the club beside him he kept pulling the line up, the snapping jaws of the ripperfish getting closer. Yanking it up onto the deck Lauf swung quickly, striking the large fish right on the head. The ripperfish stayed still for a second before starting to flap again. This got it another slug from Lauf's club. This time it stayed still. Lauf put the club back in place before pulling out his knife. In a few minutes, Lauf cleaned and gutted the ripperfish and stuck the meat into the salt barrel. He just finished putting that meat inside when another line started to get pulled.

By the time the sun was nearly over the longship, Lauf had several ripperfish salting in the barrel while undoing the ropes holding the longship to the rocks. He needed to get the ship moving while the seas were calm and the winds strong. Putting the last rope away, he unfurled the sail and left the rock shelter. He turned the longship in the direction of Asaheim, knowing the continent's location in relation to his former island home by memory. Sailing over the relatively calm world-sea, he was thanking the spirits for his good-fortune. Normally the sea would be torn asunder during the entire time of fire and water. But this was a day of calm. Tomorrow would no doubt bring more of the turmoil that destroyed his home. He needed to cover as much distance as possible before nightfall. The day was very quiet for Lauf as he sailed over the world-sea. It was only when the sun began to set that he noticed dark clouds on the horizon,

 _Storm's coming. Guess the time is not yet over._ He thought to himself. He was drawn from thinking about the time of fire and water when he spotted some dots on the ocean. Looking towards them, he noticed they were longships. Lauf gripped his axe when seeing those ships. This was trouble. He did not know who they belonged to. But out here alone, he was in trouble if they decided to take his ship. He was not going down without a fight though. He would stand his ground and defend his ship. Looking around the ship for something to use against this fleet, he sees what he needs and begins to get ready. The fleet of the Iron Kraken tribe had just lost their own lands to the time of fire and water. Now they needed to find a new home. And more importantly, more ships. One of the scouts reported sighting of a lone longship ahead. This was good news for the tribe and they turned their heading towards that ship, ready to kill the crew and take this ship as their own now. Approaching the lone ship, two Iron Kraken vessels came up on either side. Warriors, ready for battle, waited on the deck of each vessel as they approached. They could see that the deck seemed empty except for a few barrels. Just as they were about to start board Lauf shot up and threw an axe into one warrior's head, "You're not taking my ship!" He shouted before tossing one of the barrels onto the deck of the Kraken ship. The warriors onboard just stared at the barrel for a bit, trying to understand while it began to leak, "Dragon oil!" One of them shouted almost at the same time that Lauf tossed a lit torch onto the oil. None of the warriors on that boat had a chance to shout as the oil ignited and exploded, destroying the ship. Chunks of the ship hull were thrown into the air and came down among the fleet, one managing to pierce the hull of the second ship attempting to board Lauf's vessel. Clutching his axe above his head, Lauf roared,

"I am Lauf of Great Bear Claw tribe! I will never surrender my home!" He called out as the Ice Kraken hesitated to approach. Lauf took the opportunity of this hesitation to propel his ship through an opening in their fleet. Sailing his ship through it, he ducked when spears were thrown from the other ships. Turning back only to demonstrate an insult towards the tribe when he spotted the tentacles of a creature the tribe was named for. He grinned as the tentacles began to destroy the tribe's fleet, the creature no doubt drawn by the smell of the dragon oil. He watched as the last Ice Kraken vessel was dragged into the depths before he turned his attention towards the fast approaching storm. The ocean began to change, waves lashing against the side of his longship while lightning struck above. He held his ship on its course as larger waves rose. Lauf turned into every one of these giant waves, sailing up and over them as he worked hard to stop the ropes of the sail from snapping or going slack. It was a struggle doing this alone, but Lauf refused to let the ocean defeat him, just as he refused to lay down and die after his home was destroyed. He would make it Asaheim, and begin a new life with a new tribe.

Several days later, Lauf slumped against the side of his longship, exhausted after the storm which lasted for the entire trip made him fight to stay on course. His arms screamed with aching muscles as he pulled himself up to look where he was going. Just as he started to get up, the ship struck something and knocked him back onto the deck. Grunting in pain, Lauf pushed himself up by grabbing the side. He arrived. Asaheim, the sole continent that was unending on Fenris and the home of the Sky-Warriors. Lauf flipped over the side and fell down into the shallow ocean on the beach. The ice cold water splashed against his face while he lay there, barely alive. After what felt like an eternity, he finally opened his eyes and saw a massive black foot in front of his face. Snapping completely awake, Lauf looked up to see a black-armoured giant with a wolf-skull on his head,

"You have faced a great deal of adversity. Yet you're still alive. You have proven yourself worthy." The giant stated in a strange voice. This, this was one of the legendary Sky-Warriors. Lauf stood up and looked at the giant's face,

"Journey to the _Aett._ If you survive then, you will join us, Lauf of Great Bear Claw." The figure said before starting to walk away, leaving Lauf alone on the beach. A large gust of wind made him shield his eyes. When he looked again, the Sky-Warrior was gone. He would go to the _Aett._ But first, he had to do one last thing. Lauf began to pour the dragon oil over the surface of the ship. He grabbed his axe and a small bag of supplies before pouring the last of the dragon oil on the deck. As soon as he was done, he grabbed a stick and wrapped an oily rag around one end. Standing before the ship, he lit the rag with a small fire he made. Closing his eyes to stop the tears from flowing, he tossed the torch onto the ship. The last vestige of his tribe began to burn almost immediately. Lauf watched as the fire climbed higher, the bits that flew up with the smoke representing the life he had before. He took one final look at the burning ship against the tossing world-sea before he turned and started walking deeper into Asaheim.

The wind whipped against his face and deafened his ears. Lauf struggled through the deep snow as he made his way towards the mountain range. There, the _Aett_ rose above all other mountains. He would pass this test. He had to. The alternative, was death. Battered by the howling wind and numb from the cold, Lauf found a small cave to rest. Walking inside with his axe at the ready, he checked it for any other entrances or signs that something else was living there. He thanked the spirits when all he found were some ancient bones that fell apart when he touched them, telling him they had been there a long time. Setting down by the entrance, he looked out at the snowy plain before him. While he was alone, he still stayed stoic to try and convince himself that he was doing the wise thing. Everything he knew was gone. He could just stay here and let the cold let him join his family. He shook his head. He could not think like that. To just lay down and die, that was a childish decision. And the easy way out. He was not that weak. In the morning, he got out of the cave and started off again towards the home of the Sky-Warriors.

While walking towards the mountains, Lauf felt something was watching his every move. Looking around, he only saw a strange black raven flying overhead. He shook his head,

"Just a blasted bird." He thought out loud. Eventually Lauf found himself walking along an ice-trail. He took each step cautiously, knowing that a false footing could end his life here and now. So far he'd been fortunate. The only other life he'd seen was that raven and a herd of mammoths off in the distance. Right now though, he had to stay focused. Carefully sliding one foot along to his next footing, he began to press his weight down on that point, listening to the ice. When the ice stopped creaking, he moved his other foot forward with the same test. It took him almost two days to get across this ice trail. There was several close calls when the ice creaked louder than normal. Finally, he was across, exhausted and cold, but alive. Forcing his feet forward, he made his way up the path towards the _Aett._ He'd made it. He'd survived the challenges Asaheim threw at him. Finally getting to the massive gate that allowed entrance to the fortress, Lauf reached a weary hand up and just touched the door before collapsing from exhaustion. As his eyes began to shut, the great doors opened and two giant armoured figures stepped out from behind the giant gates,

"Well done whelp. You've proved yourself" One of the figures stated, his long grey beard the only thing Lauf clearly spotted before his eyes closed,

 _Whelp. You should listen….._ Lauf's eyes shot open, remembering where he was. But that voice at the end of that strange dream,

"Lord Stormcaller?" He asked, looking around as if he would see Njal Stormcaller here with him. Sighing when he realized he was being foolish. He felt odd. Until today, he'd only ever dreamed about the day the sorcerer murdered his pack. Why now was he remembering the time he lost his tribe? And why did he hear the greatest Rune Priest speaking to him at its end? His line of thought was interrupted when an announcement came over the ship that they were arriving at their destination. Holding his axe, he smiled when he heard that the world was currently in the grips of a heretical uprising that needed to be put down. A world with the seeds of Chaos corruption? This may be his lucky day. He may finally find the sorcerer and avenge his pack. Standing up, he left his spot on the crates and started towards the hangar. Walking down the ship's hallway, he passed Imperial guardsmen rushing to get onto their transports and down to the surface. Grinning while he got to the cargo hold, he flicked his finger over the axe blade. He would get down there, resolve whatever heresy was going on there, and find the traitor. Excited at the prospect of killing the sorcerer, Lauf's pace was a bit quicker than normal as he walked over to the transports where the guardsmen were loading up. As the door closed on the transport, one thought was in Lauf's head, _Here it is brothers. Soon your souls will be put to rest._ He held his weapons at the ready while the transport left the cruiser and made its way towards the surface of the war-torn planet. The Lone Wolf's hunt would soon show many traitors their mistake for turning away from the Emperor's light.

 **Now this chapter was focused on Lauf's backstory, which I felt the need to flesh out. Now there will be a chapter at a later date about his time before this story in the Space Wolves. But not just yet.**


	4. Loyalty and Freedom

On the Penal world of Thabater, several regiments of the Mordian Iron Guard and Praetorian Guard were trying to crush a rebellion among the prisoners, rallied by someone called 'the red preacher'. These guardsmen were struggling to make a dent in the heretics' defensive lines. The prison that spread across the planet was a perfect defensive position and it was taking a heavy toll on the attackers. But still they attacked, making small advances through the prison. Not only was the penal planet a valuable mining world, but there was rumours that the 'red preacher' was a chaos sorcerer. If this individual was allowed to continue his work without attack, Emperor knows what could happen.

Lauf watched through the screen of the transport as they travelled down to the planet. The pilot headed towards the spaceport that the guardsmen had already secured, allowing them to get constant supplies to continue to prosecute the war against the heretical prisoners. When they landed, the door swung open and the soldiers inside began to pull crates of ammunition, and other such supplies out, replacing the boxes with bodies of dead and wounded guardsmen. Lauf stepped out of the transport and looked around. The port was filled with transports landing or departing in a steady flow of aircraft towards the ships waiting in orbit. Scattered around the space were crates like the ones just removed from the transport. Lauf could see ammunition for heavy bolters, mortars, power-packs, shotgun-shells, frag and smoke grenades. He could also see demolition packs, no doubt used by the mordians and praetorians to breach the thick prison walls.

Walking around the spaceport, Lauf saw different squads of guardsmen waiting to go inside the prison frontlines while a group of officers stood by a table that held diagrams of the prison and dots representing the guardsmen and traitor battle positions. The officers included the general and his command staff along with individual Mordian and Praetorian officers who were discussing how to break the deadlock,

"In Block A3-8, the platoons are reporting that they cannot advance further than this point." One Mordian officer with a bionic arm explained, pointing to a spot on the diagrams where imperial dots had a slight push ahead of the main line,

"From the reports. This diagram is wrong. What we thought was a wide hall." She began to draw on the diagram, "Is actually barely large enough for two men to walk side-by side through. And the heretics have sent up a pair of heavy stubbers down one end. Anyone that tries to get through there is cut to pieces. So far all they've been able to do is put up some sand-bags as a makeshift defence and take some shots." The guardwoman explained,

"They should keep pushing forward! No heretics can stand against our righteous might!" Another Iron guard officer, this one looking brand new to Lauf's eyes exclaimed,

"You need to temper your enthusiasm with wisdom guardsman." A Praetorian with a patch over his right eye stated,

"I have some ratlings working on finding a way through the ventilation system to get behind that position captain. They should be reporting in soon. If you attack after they've dealt with the heretics, you should be able to get to the solitary cells here where our intel indicates the prisoners have been storing some of their supplies." The Praetorian explained. A young aide next to the Imperial general in charge of this campaign noticed Lauf and got the other officers' attention. They all looked at him and then where he was pointing. Turning around, they all started at Lauf,

"My lord! You honour us with your presence." The general said, dropping to his knee, followed by every other officer present while Lauf got close,

"Stand up General. I don't like a man of the Imperium on his knees." He commented. The general looked up at Lauf as he stood up,

"What brings you to this Emperor-blasted world my lord?" One Mordian officer asked as she set her hands on the table,

"I am hunting someone lieutenant. My information has it he's on this world." Lauf explained while he looked over the map showing the guards' strategies,

"All I need from you general. Is to make sure your men do not get in my way during my hunt. I will help you however I can, but my hunt is my priority." Lauf looked at the general, who simply nodded. He was not going to argue or demand anything from a Space Marine. He motioned with one hand for Lauf to join them at this table. Lauf stepped forward and looked at what the general wanted to show him,

"My lord. We are currently in deadlock. These prisoners, already condemned in the eyes of the Emperor, have committed further offences. Someone calling themselves 'the red preacher' has convinced them to rise up against lawful Imperial authority and start this rebellion that we have been sent to put down. However, after they killed the prison's overseers, they had access to the prison's armouries. Fortunately they were stopped from leaving after the last overseers destroyed the transports." The general explained while Lauf nodded. Now he understood the overall situation and the tactical reality of this planet. Looking at the map, he started to see where he could make the most impact,

"General. I'm going to cut through this rebellion. Right. Here!" He pointed to a single point where the guardsmen line had been unable to budge for some time. The guardsmen officers looked at the point Lauf designated,

"My lord. That is a service corridor we can barely get a single man down. And every time we've sent troops that way they've been ripped to shreds." A praetorian captain explained. The guardsmen watched as Lauf gave them a toothy grin,

"General. Officers. Close, tight combat is my specialty. I will break through that position and you can continue your offensive to reclaim this planet and punish these traitors." Lauf's confidence renewed the officers' faith in the surety of their victory and their faith in the God-Emperor,

"We will follow your charge and crush these traitors my lord." The General said as he put one hand across his chest, followed by the other officers,

"I will send word when I am ready general." Lauf clutched his weapon-hilts before leaving the table and walking into one of the hallways. He passed by groups of guardsmen, either waiting for orders, manning defensive positions or moving wounded back from the front line. As he passed, guardsmen stood up and saluted in respect to which Lauf nodded his respect. It took him a bit of time to work his way through the prison complex to get to his target destination. As he got closer he could hear las, bolter, stubber-fire and explosions coming from the hallway further away from him. As he gets closer to the hallway he walks past guardsmen dragging or carrying wounded comrades from the frontline. When he gets to the large room that leads towards the hallway Lauf looked to see Praetorian and Mordian guardsmen behind sections of sandbags and poking their heads up just to start firing down the hallway. He watches as one Mordian guardsman gets up to shoot only to get shredded to pieces by the heavy stubber fire coming down from the prisoners' position. The unfortunate guardsman fell back onto the floor, spraying blood and bone bits across the floor, mixing in with old gore. The smell flooded Lauf's nose, old and new blood mixing inside the scents as he moved along the wall beside guardsmen were using as cover. When he reached the wall connecting to the corridor, he stopped beside a young Praetorian lieutenant,

"My lord! I apologize that we cannot give you a proper introduction. But as you can see, we are a bit stuck here." The lieutenant called over the fire of the stubbers. The guardsmen had been trying to determine how many stubbers were aimed down the corridor. Lauf listened carefully to the _RATA-TAT-TAT-TAT_ sound of the stubbers firing,

 _Two of them. One needs to have its barrel switched out._ Lauf smirked as the fire kept going,

"Order your men to hold their fire lieutenant. As soon as I cut down those traitors. You can get moving."

"My lord. What are you…" The lieutenant watched as Lauf rushed down the corridor just as the firing from the prisoners stopped. One of the stubbers ran out of ammunition and was needing its barrel switched while the second jammed from over-firing. The prisoners rushed to get their guns firing as they saw to their horror the image of a giant blue-grey warrior charging towards them. Just as one of the stubbers was fixed, Lauf leapt over the sandbags onto one of the gunners, crushing his skull underfoot. He did not need to see how many prisoners were there as he had smelled each one's distinctive scent before he got to them. Now these heretics would learn the consequence of further condemning themselves to the Emperor. Lauf stabbed his sword through two prisoners, impaling them like a kabob as he bisected another prisoner down the middle. Pulling one leg back, he kicked backwards and struck a charging prisoner in the chest. Snapping bones echoed down the hall followed by the prisoner crashing to the floor, blood coming out of his mouth and nose. Freeing his sword from the two dead, Lauf spun around and decapitated the last three prisoners in the position. Lauf whipped his sword and axe in two directions, flicking the blood clean of his weapons as guardsmen flood over to his position,

"My lord. You helped us so much here." The lieutenant said, bowing to Lauf,

"Don't thank me yet lieutenant. This planet is not yet back in the Emperor's control." Lauf commented, looking in the direction the guardsmen were rushing to take before the prisoners realized what was happening. He held his weapons at the ready,

"May the Allfather protect you and your men lieutenant." Lauf began to run down one of the service corridors, cutting further behind the prisoners' main line. After a while of running through the corridor, Lauf stopped and listened. He could hear the sounds of battle behind him and rushing feet towards the battle in front of him. He grinned as he ran down one of the passages and burst out through a rusted door. Coming out in a wide hallway, Lauf felt like a wolf among a herd of sheep as he saw dozens of prisoners with small homemade weapons and a few auto-guns. He squeezed his weapons a bit tighter and unleashed a cold-chilling howl of mix joy and rage before charging forward. The 'fight' if it could be called that, was horrific. Lauf sliced his way through some of the Imperium's worst scum and degenerates in a whirlwind of blood. Sliced bodies, hacked off limbs, decapitated skulls, multi-impaled individuals, prisoners shoved head-first into other prisoners and all various forms of deaths are all that remains of the prison horde as Lauf advanced further inside the prison.

Several times he encounters prisoner groups of various sizes and none of them were willing to tell him anything. Lauf sighed as he pulled his sword out of one prisoner's head, the body dropping to the floor. At this rate he would never find out who this 'Red Preacher' is. Flipping bodies over, he spots one of the prisoners struggling to crawl away, his one leg badly broken. The man groaned as every drag hurt his leg. He was stopped in his escape with an armoured foot stepping on his arm. The weight and pressure from Lauf's foot on his arm caused the bone to break inside his skin, making him scream in agony,

"I'll give you one chance. Who is this Red Preacher and where is he?" Lauf demanded, his foot remaining on the prisoner's arm,

"You'll kill me anyway." He managed to say, struggling to speak through the pain,

"Perhaps. But there are things worse than death. I will kill you, but not before getting my answers from you." Lauf explained, pushing his foot deeper against the broken arm, making the man scream even louder,

"Now then. Where. Is. He." Every word Lauf twisted his heel back and forth, breaking the bone further with each movement. He glared at the man who now had tears falling from his eyes due to the excruciating pain,

"He's a giant man… just like you. And he's deep in the chambers." The man whimpered as tears kept flowing down his cheeks,

"See? That was not that difficult." Before the prisoner could respond, Lauf's axe severed his head from his shoulders. He wiped his weapons clean and sniffed the air. He turned and headed towards the scent that was the most foul. If the 'preacher' was anywhere, it was probably in the deepest, dankest hole on this planet. His travel took him through a maze of passages, corridors, open cell-blocks and other areas of the ancient prison. Wherever he went, he encountered more groups of radicalized prisoners who soon came to regret trying to take him on as he cut them down like the mad-dogs they were. Slowly a picture was forming about this rebellion.

The prisoners he interrogated told him how this preacher appeared one day in the depths of the prison. He had rallied prisoners with his fiery speech, promising these condemned dredges salvation if they threw off the shackles of their oppressors and claimed this planet for the glory of the true gods who demanded the oppressive Imperium be cast down and a new, more equitable Imperium be raised from the ashes. Lauf had scoffed at these notions. Proving the foolish nature of these prisoners to him was the fact that many of them had marked themselves with the symbols of Chaos and did not know the significance of the marks. They had been told they were emblems of the new regime and once they were free would grant them peace and serve as the mark of their new independence. Every prisoner who had the symbols marked on their flesh met peace at the end of Lauf's blades, followed by fire provided from the promethium lanterns. He did not want to risk any potential for Chaos to use the bodies for any more foul purpose. Especially concerning was the fact that some of the prisoners said that the leaders of this rebellion and the preacher were planning some sort of ritual deep inside the prison. He had to hurry. If this ritual was like the one he witnessed five years ago hunting the Sorcerer, it could mean this planet would be over-run with daemons and the energies of the Warp. He would not allow that to happen. He took off on a run deeper through the prison.

Lauf felt he was getting closer to his prey and he clutched his weapons tightly. As he rounded a corner, he saw a man in the attire of a Rogue Trader. He was not sure if this man was one of those who had caused this uprising, or was simply a prisoner that had killed a Trader and took his clothes. No, that second option was unlikely. The clothes had no blood on them and they did not smell like they had recently been cleaned. Walking towards the man, Lauf kept his weapons lowered to avoid an unnecessary conflict if this man was possibly friendly. But when the trader saw him, a bolt pistol was immediately raised,

"You're here for her!" He shouted, firing off two rounds before Lauf was on him. The man did not get a chance to react before his chest was impaled by Lauf's frost sword. Coughing up blood, he glared at Lauf,

"You bastard… just want to take our freedom…." He muttered before falling to the floor dead. Lauf withdrew his sword just as a pair of Mechadendrite tentacles missed the spot where his head had been,

"We just wanted to live our lives!" A tech-priest shouted as she advanced down the hall towards him, rushing as fast as she could. She would show them. They tried to force her into a mar….. The tech-priest's advance was stopped when she charged face-first into a thrown frost-axe. Lauf was no marksman, but he had learned a decade ago how to hurl his weapon with a fair level of accuracy. Walking over to the now dead woman, he ripped the axe out of the skull and looked around, sniffing the air.

He was right there. Perfect spot. Clutching his knife, he leapt down. It was aimed right at the Wolf's head. This had worked so well before. He would… A gurgling sound echoed through the hallway as the former guardsman slid down Lauf's frost-sword which was pointed upwards. The Space Wolf had smelled and heard him just before he had gotten ready to drop. Listening as the man's heart stopped beating, Lauf moved the sword over and let the body slide off. Wiping the blade clean, he saw someone he recognized as an Astropath was running towards him. The astropath did not get far before Lauf had his hand on her neck,

"Where is the red preacher?" He demanded, looking at the astropath's blind eyes.

"What? Aren't you here for her? Our friend" She muttered while clutching at Lauf's giant fingers,

"I have no idea what you speak of astropath. Stop your word-games and tell me." He growled before he felt a sense of unease in his stomach. He had seen this before and started looking towards the hallway the astropath had run down. Just as he started to see a figure come down, he felt a pain in his hand. Turning back, he saw the astropath had stabbed him with a small dagger. Growling, he showed the blind psyker her mistake as he drove her skull into the wall. It exploded with a popping sound. Turning towards the figure, Lauf realized what this girl was. A blank. As she approached, Lauf recognized the look in her eyes and he readied his weapons,

"You killed them! All my friends! Just to get to me!?" She demanded as Lauf felt power gathering around her. She would kill him. And with him would die her location. She would be free. She opened her eyes. The Space Wolf was gone. She felt so happy. He was destroyed by her power. She wanted to cheer out for her freedom. But when she opened her mouth, no sound came out. Her vision started to blur, she felt sleepy. She would rest now.

Lauf lifted the decapitated head up to look at the secret brand on the back of her neck. He recognized the aquila symbol. But the skull with a sword through it, he had never seen the secret Officio Assassinorum's symbol. The only thing he could read among the tattoo was a single sentence: Power classification: Omega-minus. He scoffed. If this was such a powerful being, why was he alive and she dead.

 _If this person had been smart. She would have understood that this is not a universe where you can be 'free' without consequences. Our Imperium is harsh and brutal. But without it, our species would have died out thousands of years ago._ He thought to himself before casually tossing the head aside. It fell into a bin, the only mark not hidden by the waste inside the bin was the skull with a sword through it. Lauf did not even glance backwards over the bodies of those insignificant dead. He had to find this red-preacher before he committed this ritual that some of the heretical prisoners were talking about. Whatever it is, he had a bad feeling that it would not be good for the forces of the Imperium present here.

After what felt like an eternity thanks to the stink filling his nostrils and the constant prisoners trying to stop his advance. Lauf finally came to a door where the stench of Chaos came out of like a terrible poison. Testing the door revealed that it was locked. Grinning, Lauf knew that would not be a problem for very long. The snapping of metal echoed inside the room as the ancient lock was cut through with one blow followed by a foot knocking the door open. Inside Lauf could see a circle of prisoners and a man wearing blue robes and clutching a force staff,

"As our master predicted my children. The lap-dog of the Emperor has come." The man said, making Lauf growl. This was not the Sorcerer. It was just some lackey,

"Where is he? Where is that sorcerer?!" He demanded as the lackey laughed,

"Guess you'll never know. Kill him!" He commanded as the prisoners all rushed towards Lauf, attacking with hand-made weapons instead of equipment from the armouries. Lauf cut the prisoners down as he made his way towards the circle, trying to reach the lackey and make him talk. Just as he reached the circle, the lackey fired something at his chest,

"There it is! Your pathetic Imperium will rot away like you now." The lackey laughed as Lauf saw a glowing orb in the centre of his chest. It glowed brightly as he felt his canines become sharper, his hair grow out of the back of his head. Blinking his eyes, he noticed that the room became brighter and smells he had not noticed before were clear as if he was smelling them right under his nose. His mind was not focused on these changes. He was only interested in the figure who was staring at him with a mix of shock and horror. There was only one thought that came to mind as he looked at this figure,

"Prey." The word came out of his mouth, but it was in a feral voice that did not belong to him. He lunged forward at the lackey who tried to fire another glowing orb. He did not get the chance as Lauf was on him and tearing at his throat with his long canines. Shaking his head like a wolf with prey, he jerked back, a large chunk of the lackey's neck in his mouth as the man bled out underneath him. Lauf spat out the chunk of meat and stood up. He felt so strange. His body was changing back from this strange occurrence, but his mind was cloudly,

 _Was that because of the orb touching me? Or did something else happen here?_ He wondered as the transformation stopped and he walked over to where his blades were dropped. Picking up the Axe and Sword he glanced down at the wolf emblem on each,

 _Whatever is inside me. I know what I am. I am Lauf, Son of Russ and loyal hunter of Logan Grimnar, Great Wolf of the Vlka Fenryka._ He reminded himself while he cleaned off his weapons after he took the head of the leader of this prisoner rebellion. Once that was finished, he set fire to this room to purge the taint of Chaos that lingered inside it. Certain that everything in that room was being consumed by fire, he made his way back to the guardsmen forces.

When he arrived and presented the head of the rebellion's leader, the guardsmen renewed their offensive with the head as a trophy. While the prisoners fought on, their morale was so badly shattered by the realization their leader was dead that many of the guardsmen commented how the fight was now more like target practice. Lauf approached the general as the Imperial forces continued their advance,

"My Lord. Thank you for your help." The general said respectfully. Lauf was not so happy. He had not found the Sorcerer here, only a servant. This frustrated him to no end,

"This may be a victory for you general. But my quest is not over. I need a ship to leave this sub-sector." Lauf demanded. The general nodded and motioned for one of his guardsman to escort Lauf back to the spaceport where a transport would take him up to a warship in orbit that was preparing to depart the system. When they reached the spaceport, Lauf noticed a transport bearing the symbols of the Inquisition arriving. He did not say anything as he passed an Imperial Inquisitor who exited the transport with a force of Storm Troopers and made his way towards the general's position.

Lauf did not need to think too much about what was going to happen to this planet after the guard retook it. He had heard the stories from older Space Wolves about what the Inquisition did to heretics. He shook those thoughts from his mind as he climbed into the transport the guardsman directed him to. He was loyal to his Wolf Lord and the Imperium. But like other Space Wolves, he did not trust the Inquisition or its actions. To fight in the shadows as they did was as deceptive and cowardly as an Eldar wych. He sighed while leaning back against the side of the transport. Who knew how long it would take him to find his prey and enact his vengeance. Awe well. He has time and a willingness to be patient. He would find this Chaos Sorcerer. And when he did, he would make him pay. For now, the one thing he could think about was rest. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander back to memories of snow, mountains, and a welcoming hearth. A smile crossed his lips as the dreams came, pushing back the nightmare of his pack's death.

* * *

"So he has transformed?" One of the shadowy figures asked,

"Yes. But it was not to the level we wanted. And it barely lasted more than a few minutes before he turned back. We will need to continue our experiments. If we wish to punish the Wolves for their actions. We must be certain the transformation is complete." The second figure stated as they watched Lauf begin to sleep, only for their orb to disrupt and explode,

"Damn. He still has protection." They grumbled while they left to continue their vile plans against the young Lone Wolf and his brethren.


	5. Wolf's Honour part 1

Five solar months since the battle on the Penal World, Lauf found himself traveling towards another warzone, something he noticed the Sorcerer seemed to enjoy traveling to, either purposely leading him to, or perhaps it was simply the will of the Emperor that his hunt was taking him to these battlezones. Whatever was happening on this planet to draw the sorcerer concerned Lauf. The last few times he had followed rumours of his prey to warzones, he had come across Chaotic rituals being performed. Was he being led there to stop those rituals or was the Sorcerer hoping that he would be dragged into them? He shook his head. Now was not the time to worry about these things. He read a data-slate containing information about the war zone he was coming to hunt for the Chaos Sorcerer. The warzone was a desert world plagued by an Ork WAAGH brought there by a crashed Space Hulk. The Orks on the planet were enough to call in regiments of the Tallaran Desert Raiders along with a force of Sisters of Battle.

Checking the data he now understood why the Sisters of Battle were sent. There was a humble monastery present above an oasis that held a sacred relic from one of the Imperial Saints. What exactly was the relic was absent from the report and that frustrated him. Lack of information had gotten his pack-mates killed and now he never trusted any situation where some critical piece of information was missing, _Ha! I'm almost as bad as those pinching magpie Blood Ravens._ Lauf grunted to himself. The fact that the Blood Ravens relied on so many librarians in their ranks, or that they had a penchant for 'finding' artifacts of so many other chapters in their armoury did not sit well with him. He was a Space Wolf and warfare should not be won through trickery and psychic powers. It needed to be won with strength of arms, honour and the skill of the men wielding the weapons. That was his belief and it showed time and again that these psykers were a scourge on the Imperium. The Sorcerer he hunted was a clear case proving this theory. At least that is what he believed. Lauf finished reading the data-slate about the current battle and set it aside so he could get some more rest. He knew he was going to need it when the fighting began. As he slept, his mind drifted back to Fenris and his home tribe. He remembered hunting, traveling and fighting with his kin. These dreams pushed back the dark memories of his kin's murder and helped him rest happily.

His sleep lasted all the way until the ship exited the warp and Lauf's heightened senses woke him when the ship left. Getting off the crates he had used for his resting place, Lauf moved through the ship towards the hangar where the transports were being readied to take supplies down to the surface. It did not take much to convince the bosun in charge of the crews putting supplies into the transports to let him onboard one of the first to go down to the planet. The supplies were quickly re-arranged to let him inside. The Valkyries had been stripped of all their weapons to make more room for supplies and lighten the weight. Walking into the valkyrie transport, Lauf stood behind the pilots' seats,

"My lord. We're ready to go. On your order." The navy pilot watched as Lauf nodded his consent,

"Valkyrie no. 183 ready to depart." The pilot pulled back on the controls causing the transport to lift off the floor of the hangar and flies out into the void of space between the ship and the planet. As they flew down, Lauf could see through the cockpit window the wreckage from ships floating in orbit and fires on the planet's surface indicating where the current battle-line was located. Already Lauf could see the effects of the fighting on the planet as they descended through the clouds. Smoking wrecks and craters dotted the desert surface while the valkyrie flew low over the desert towards the main Imperial base.

After a few minutes, Lauf saw the Imperial base coming over the horizon, but just as he relaxes a bit the valkyrie begins to weave through the sky,

"Pilot, what is going on?" He demanded as the pilots kept the valkyrie swerving and weaving through the sky with a look of fear on their faces,

"My lord. We have three Orks on our tail." He looked back to see three Ork dakkajets flying after the Valkyrie,

"What weapons do you have on this aircraft?" Lauf called over the whirl of the valkyrie's engines while the pilot kept the aircraft swerving over the sand dunes as the Ork fighters began to shoot wildly after them,

"My lord. We only have a humble stubber." The co-pilot pointed to a stubber stuck into the top of the roof. Lauf ripped the stubber off the wall and began to fire out of the side of the valkyrie after the dakkajets. The stubber rounds strike the heavy armour on the Ork craft and simply bounced off. Growling, Lauf fired with the belt. Right now he wished he had spent some more time training with ranged weapons. But it was only the Long Fangs who were trusted with the heavy weapons in the Space Wolves. For now all he could do was keep firing and try to hit the Ork pilots who were cheering madly as they fired and chased after the Imperial transport, heedless of the stubber shells bouncing off their ships and coming close to their target with each passing second.

While the dakkajets kept chasing them, Lauf finally managed to hit one of the Ork pilots with three stubber rounds into the head. The three shells strike after several rounds passed by harmlessly. The pilot flopped against his control panel as his jet served hard to one side, shearing the next dakkajet's engine in two. The sudden disruption of the Ork engine causes the two jets to explode in violent balls of fire and smoke. The other Orks did not seem upset by their fellows' deaths. Instead they roared with laughter at the large ball of fire as they kept chasing after the Valkyrie. The Ork gunner finally started to focus their fire on the valkyrie even while the pilot kept up his weaving tactic. A stream of Shoota rounds sprayed across the back of the transport that shook violently as the bullets ripped into the tail section and right engine of the valkyrie. Lauf shook and grabbed onto the side of the transport, losing the stubber at the same time. He looked to see the pilot desperately trying to control the Valkyrie's descent towards the dunes. Squeezing the metal so hard that it began to bend within in his hand, Lauf saw them falling towards a large dune, "Hang on my lord!" The pilot warned just as the Valkyrie hit the sand dune. The impact did not stop the transport, but it did manage to shear off the engines and remaining tail section. Lauf felt his feet come off the bottom of the floor while they bounced off the subsequent sand dunes like a rock skipped over a calm lake. This happened five times before the sand stopped the crash enough so they just slid along the sand a bit more.

When Lauf opened his eyes, he had to push a pair of supply crates off of his chest that had been tossed around during the crash. Pulling himself out of the mess of supplies, the lone wolf checked himself over.

Aside from a minor scratch on his shoulder pauldron, he was alright. _The pilots!_ Lauf tossed a crate aside that was blocking access to the cockpit. Walking inside, he frowned. The two pilots were slumped forward in their seats. Gently pulling them back in their seats to see their fronts, he sniffed to see now long they had been dead. Based on their appearance and scent, they had been dead for awhile. Killed by broken necks. _At least their deaths were quick._ Lauf thought before he clawed his way out of the wreck. Looking around, he could see the trail of wreckage that marks the path the Valkyrie took in its crash. Boxes of ammunition and other supplies were scattered all around the crash-site and further back. He had to get a retrieval party back here to get these before any Orks did. But in order to do that, he had to get to the Imperial base. Sighing, he sets off towards the base through the sand.

Trudging on the top of the dunes, Lauf felt sand whip across his face from the wind. It cut into his skin and snuck into the joints of his armour. He had to raise his hand in front of his face when the wind picked up, hurling handfuls of sand against him. Continuing towards what he believed was the Imperial post, he focused behind the towers of the base and growled. A sandstorm was on its way towards him. When that got here, he would be completely blind and probably lost. Stopping on the side of a dune he was climbing up, he goes down on one knee and reaches back into his pack. Rummaging through it, he finds his helmet and pulls it out. Closing his pack first, Lauf tucks his bear against his chin before putting the helmet on. Lauf waited for about a minute while the helmet adjusted to his armour's systems and gained all the information it needs. Once the HUD in his helmet had completed its analysis of his power armour, Lauf began to lay down in the side of the dune.

As the first winds of the sandstorm hit him, Lauf was huddled in a small hole in the sand. He could easily travel through the worst of a blizzard. But right now he could only lay there as the sandstorm engulfed him fully. After nearly five hours, the sandstorm finally passed over, leaving a layer of sand on top of Lauf. He started to shake himself free of the sand only to freeze when some new scents came into his nose. The sound of metal tapping his helmet drew his attention to what was beside him,

"What do we have here? Sleeping on the job wolf?" Lauf tilted his head to get a better look at who was speaking to him. Five Sisters of battle, their pitch black armour glinting in the bright sunlight,

"Guess the wolf wanted to enjoy the warm sand. Must be all that cold he's used to. The sand's a nice change." A sister, different from the first said as she rested a heavy bolter in front of her,

"So wolf. Just going to….." Lauf shot up and glared at the Sisters in front of him. He was done with them putting him down here. He grabbed his helmet and tore it off, letting the sisters see his face and tell that he did not tolerate their insults,

"What are five servants of the Adeptus Ministorum doing out here?" Lauf looked at the woman. Two had their helmets on, but their sigils showed they were retributors. And they were heavily armed for combat. Looking around he sees the Imperial base still off in the distance but no sign of any enemy for these heavily armed Sisters and their Celestian to fight. Unless there was another reason,

"We are here because there was word of a valkyrie having gone down from Ork dakkajets. We were told to look for two pilots. Not some buried wolf in the sand." A retributor with a flamer commented with distaste in her voice. Lauf looked at the five,

"The Valkyrie is back that way. Both pilots are dead. Killed during the crash." Lauf pointed in the direction he had been travelling from. Surviving on Fenris had given him a good sense of direction. Especially useful in this almost featureless desert as two sisters looked ready to thank Lauf, only to go silent when the Celestian spoke up,

"How fortunate for you." She spat out with a glare, which was answered by a growl from Lauf. These Sisters were not getting on his good side and he was feeling ready to strike out right here and now,

"How unfortunate for the Imperium Celestian. The supplies in the valkyrie could help. If you retrieve them." Lauf said as he finally shook off the last of the sand from his armour,

"I will go speak to your commander and let them know I am on this planet. For my own reasons." He added before any of them asked why a Lone Wolf was on this world. He started walking towards the base while the sisters set off in the direction he had indicated. They must have thought he was too far away to hear them whisper,

"A emperor-forsaken wolf! Heretics and traitors. All of them!" One of the Retributor barked like a whelp out of the womb. He would remember that fact. But it was something to be dealt with at another time. For now he needed to focus on getting to the Imperial base, get a read on the forces present on this planet and present himself before the commanders of these forces and see exactly what state the entire planet was in.

The travel took longer than normal due to the shifting sand underneath his feet. A few times Lauf almost fell down when the sandy dunes gave out from the weight of his armour. But every time he was quick to adjust his footing and keep going. Finally coming to the top of the last sand dune in front of the Imperial base he removed his helmet, tucking it back inside the pack in the centre of his armour. Lauf shook out his beard, braided bright red hair flying right and left for a second before settling back on the front of his chestplate while the hair on his head fluttered in the light breeze that blew towards him. A calming facade for a horrific picture he thought before he began walking down to the flat plain surrounding the big Imperial defensive base. As he approached the line, guardsmen stood up in their trench with lasguns pointed at him, only then to lift them up in respect. A couple guardsmen climbed up and rushed towards the razor-wire in front of the trench. When Lauf got close enough, the guardsmen pulled the razor-wire aside to let him into the base. Once Lauf was inside, the razor-wire was set back into place and the guardsmen escorted the Space Wolf through their lines until he came to the main part of the camp.

Lauf looked around and saw the tent he needed to go to speak with the commander. Hopefully he or she would be more welcoming than those mouthy sisters. Walking across the camp, Lauf noticed the glanced looks and stares from the Tallaran guardsmen and some sisters who came out of the tents around the big command one he was going to. As he approached, the guards at the door of the tent dropped to their knees in respect to the lord Space Wolf,

"I need to speak with your general. Is he inside?" Lauf looked at the two, who nodded. He thanked the Desert Raiders and approached the door. Pulling the side of the door open he walked inside and surveyed the interior of the tent. There were several Tallaran decorations alongside standard guardsmen accessories hanging on the walls. Maps, lists, and other administration requirements for the running of this force were on many hooks that had been attached to virtually any surface around a large table where even more data-slates and maps,

"I understand your right to come and take command my lord. But these are still my men and it is my responsibility to make sure they stay alive." A man who had his back to Lauf stood over the large table speaking with someone who Lauf needed a second to determine. When he did, he had to suppress a growl of anger at the sight,

"Lord General. The Inquisition is able to call upon all servants of the Imperium if need be. And my information has led me to believe that there is something on this world beyond the Orks that threatens the safety of the Imperium." An Inquisitor lord commented nonchalantly as he looked over a data-slate on the one side of the table from the general. Lauf never liked Inquisitors, both from personal experience, and from his nature as a Space Wolf. He looked closely at the Inquisitor as he walks back and forth along the table looking at his data-slate. The man had the standard symbols of the Inquisition across his Ignatus power armour. Wax seals of the skull with an I through it holding pieces of parchment across various parts of his body. Lauf realized the Inquisitor was a member of the Ordo Hereticus, or Witch Hunters when he saw the Inquisitor's hat resting behind the man. First the Sisters of Battle, now a Witch Hunter Inquisitor,

"General. It seems that there is something else to turn our attention to. Specifically, this new appearance." The Inquisitor looked towards the door of the tent, making everyone else in the tent to turn to see what he was looking at. As soon as the shock wears off, the general and his staff dropped to their knees,

"My lord." The general says respectfully as Lauf nodded at the general, but still looks at the Inquisitor. Just as he was about to speak, a soldier rushed inside,

"Orks at the perimeter!" She said out of breath as the general and his staff stood up,

"We can talk later general. For now, there are xenos to kill. Guardsman!" He looked at the woman, who snapped to attention,

"Take me to where these Orks are." The guardswoman shouted yes my lord and ran out of the tent with Lauf behind her towards the front line of the base. He wondered how it was that the Orks had been able to sneak close enough to the perimeter in this desert. Shaking his head, he got rid of these thoughts for now while taking his weapons off his hips, blue energy crackling along the blades just as the tallaran woman led him into the trenches heading towards the breach area. Running through the trenches, Lauf passed by multiple fire positions as the desert raiders fight to push back the greenskin push. When he rounds a corner, Lauf sees the first of the Orks' breaching force cutting down a guardsman. The Ork yells WAAAGH in victory at its kill, only to be silenced when Lauf's frost-sword was stabbed through its neck. In one twist, Lauf decapitated the Ork and rushed towards the next greenskin while green blood spewed from the stump of its neck. Another Ork swung his choppa at Lauf, only to get blocked by Lauf's sword, followed by his axe splitting the Ork's head in two. He continued to hack, slash, and smash his way through the trench section where the greenskins breached. His rampage drew the Orks' attention away from the guardsmen which gives them the opportunity to form a new line and rip into the flanks of their enemy. This new attack begins to force the Orks back, but it is still a slog for Lauf and the guard to push the greenskins out of the base. Body-checking an Ork head-first, Lauf drives it into the trench-wall with an explosion of green gore and bits of bone-matter. Letting the Ork body flop to the floor, his attention is drawn towards a shout of terror further down the trench.

Private Ayyoob Jalai was manning his heavy bolter before just avoid getting bisected by an Ork from the side. Now he could only shout in terror as the same Ork stood over him, about to bring its giant axe down on his head. Closing his head just as the axe began to fall, a sound of energy hitting metal came from above him. Ayyoob opened his eyes and saw the Ork's axe blocked by a twin-headed axe with wolf-heads engraved across it. The next thing he witnessed was the Ork's stomach being split in two by Lauf's sword, "My lord! You saved us!" He spun around and put his head and his hands to the ground before Lauf as wounded Tallaran around the trench all began to bow to him as well,

"No guardsman. You saved yourselves. You are still alive." Lauf helped Ayyoob up off the ground before he looked around at the desert raiders all looking at him,

"Those of you badly wounded. Stay here and treat your injuries. Those who can stand, help your comrades. The rest of you, with me. We're closing that breach. And destroying every greenskin here!" He raised his sword into the air with cheers from those able to follow him. He started off towards the breach in the razor-wire again, now with almost thirty guardsmen at his back.

Rounding a corner in the trench, he just avoids getting hit by a burst of flame spewed down the trench. Growling as he grips his weapons tightly, Lauf howled and charged around the trench, running into a squad of the Sisters present on this planet. Stopping an instant from colliding with the sisters,

"So wolf. Getting into the hot-seat again?" The sister demanded with venom in her voice again as she stood next to the sister with the flamer. Lauf was certain that if there were no Orks right now, this Celestian Riviel would order her Retributor to fire again,

"Enough Celestian Riviel. Now's not the time." A Palatine walked through the group of sisters and put a hand on top of the flamer. The Retributor lowered her flamer while Riviel glared at the Palatine, but kept her silence while her superior looked at Lauf,

"Lord Space Wolf. We need to secure this base as soon as possible." The Palatine said and Lauf nodded in agreement,

"We know where the breach is located. Will you assist us?" She asked as Lauf grinned,

"Do you really need to ask Palatine?" He said, holding his weapons up in front of his chest,

"Just tell me where the breach is. Leave the Orks to me." The Palatine pointed towards the hole in the wire. Lauf set off with the sisters and Desert Raiders at his back.

Fighting towards the breach in the razor wire with the Sisters and Desert Raiders covering his flanks, Lauf cuts a swathe through the Orks swarming into the trench. Reaching the section of the trenches in front of the broken hole of the perimeter wire, Lauf lifts a Nob over his head and breaks its back across his knee. Following the distinct snap of bones, Lauf tossed it into a mob of boyz coming at him, knocking them over like bowling pins. Picking up his sword and axe, Lauf blocked another Ork's attack, deflecting the choppa to his side before hacking off both its arms. The Ork shouted in rage, creating a perfect opening for a frost-sword to stab through. Sliding the Ork off his sword, he looked at the broken chunk of razor wire. Climbing onto the top of the trench, Lauf steadied his breathing. His rampage through the trench was straining, even for his post-human body. Flexing his fingers to loosen the tension, he glanced back to see Tallaran guardsmen climbing up with him,

"Get this hole plugged up!" He ordered as engineers rush forward with spools of razor-wire in their hands. While the engineers begin to place the new wire out in front of the trench, the other soldiers reset their fire positions and began clearing away the bodies inside the position. Lauf waited on top of the trench in case more Orks came at the base. After almost two hours, the perimeter wire was back in place, the heavy guns were set up in their gun-pits and the bodies were cleared out of the trench. Lauf sat down on a bench next to some of the guardsmen while he drank a bit of water. Just as he puts his canteen away, one of the sisters walks over to him,

"My lord. The general and Inquisitor wish to speak with you." Lauf stood up and followed the sister back to the main camp in the centre. Once they arrived, Lauf went into the tent, leaving the sister outside. Inside the general and Inquisitor were waiting for him,

"Space Wolf. Good to see you. Now that those savages have been taken care of. We can begin work on dealing with the more important issue on this planet." The Inquisitor slid the data-slate he was reading earlier across the table. Lauf picked up the data-slate,

"So what is this all about Inquisitor?" He asked while reading the data-slate,

"Witches. Space Marine. Witches." That got Lauf's attention,

"Tell me everything." He insisted as the Inquisitor began to tell him and the general everything they needed to know.


	6. Wolf's Honour part 2

Lauf looked over the data-slate as he stood around the Tallarn camp. This Inquisitor, Marfa of the Ordo Heretics was here to perform an 'interrogation' of the human population of this planet after word had come to him that this Ork invasion had was the result of someone trying to summon daemons, but had completely bungled up the summoning and instead had managed to bring the Orks. So now the Inquisitor intended to find out who it was that was trying to commit heresy and prevent a potential daemonic incursion on this world. He suspected that the only reason why the daemon had failed was due to the sacred shrine on the world. Whoever was secretly a heretic would be trying to destroy the shrine and the divine protection the Emperor and his saint provides through it. At least, that was the Inquisitor's theory. So he intended to leave the shrine relatively vulnerable. In order to give whoever the heretic was an opening they thought would allow them to destroy it.

Lauf had to grit his teeth. This plan was terrible. It left too much to chance in his view. Plus it cast far too much doubt and suspicion, if word ever got out amongst the Tallarn guardsmen that until the one the Inquisitor was looking for was caught every single one of them was being looked at as a potential traitor. One of many reasons why his chapter hated Inquisitors. Making the situation even worse, the Inquisitor was using the most radical of the Sisters of Battle present on the world to interrogate the potential heretics. Already these interrogations had begun and the results were not showing any chance of finding the heretic, as he suspected. But for now, he had to focus on preparing for the fight to come. The scouts reported that the Orks were massing for another attack. But the general in charge of the Tallarns was not going to stick around and wait for the attack to come. He already had his scouts out watching the Orks and was mustering the rest of his force to come out and hit the Orks where they least expected it, in their own staging grounds. The general was only using the guard for this attack, the sisters would stay to protect the shrine. At the same time, the scouts were searching for pockets of survivors that may still be alive somewhere out in the various settlements in the desert. Already a few dozen were being brought into the shrine and the destroyed buildings around it. He was not going to wait around for the Tallarn to kill the Greenskins on this planet. Lauf walked through the camp and headed towards the general's tent. Entering, he saw the man sitting drinking a cup of recaf. The minute the general saw Lauf, he got out of his chair,

"Can I do something for you my lord?" He asked as Lauf nodded,

"Yes general. You can tell me when you are planning to attack the Orks. Because when you do, I will be there at the front." The general looked at Lauf with respectful shock,

"My lord. I did not dare to presume that you would be willing….."

"Enough my lord general. I am a son of Russ and I will not wait on the sidelines like some Dark Angel." Lauf said with chest thumping pride.

"When the battle begins, my blades with taste Ork blood." He said as the general nodded. He was not going to stop the Space Wolf from joining the battle. It did mean that his men may have a better chance of victory with a Space Marine at the forefront of their attack.

"Thank you my lord. I will let my commanders know that you are going to be there. So they do not get in your way." The general answered as he looked at another data-slate,

"Actually my lord. There is a chimera heading out to the join the scouts getting ready to attack the Orks." The general did not get a chance to say anything more when Lauf left the tent and went towards the vehicle section of the camp. When Lauf got there, he saw the chimera getting ready to depart. He approached the two Tallarns on top of the chimera,

"Gentlemen. Are you leaving soon?" Lauf asked the two men when he got close when the Desert Raiders,

"My lord. Yes. We are heading towards the scouts waiting for us." The sergeant explained,

"Have room for another passenger?" Lauf watched as the two men immediately shifted some equipment around on the chimera. After they were done, they went into the chimera while Lauf clambered on board and sat behind the turret. When he was seated comfortably, the transport set out of the base through its main 'gate' section into the desert. Lauf watched as the storm of dust blew behind them from the tracks of the chimera chewing up the sand beneath it.

The travel across the desert was very quiet, the sun's light beaming down across the dunes and the top of the chimera began to rise in temperature. The energy from the sun and the barren sand caused heat waves to climb up around Lauf as he stayed sitting. He looked up to watch the few clouds crawling across the sky and let his mind drift. He could see a Fenrisian Wolf in one cloud, a heavy bolter spraying a burst of rounds in another cloud. It was a simple distraction as he waited for the chimera to come to the scouts' location. As they came over a dune, the tallarn opens the hatch of the vehicle,

"My lord. We're almost at the regiment's gathering point."

"Very good corporal. Let me off there and continue with your mission." Lauf looked down at his frost-axe in anticipation. Looking beyond the tallarn, he could see the desert raiders preparing to attack the Orks in the shadow of a mountain of dark brown stone in the middle of the desert. This lone mountain cast a shadow across the entire guardsmen force hiding behind it. Lauf looked at the stone. It reminded him of the _Aett_ in shape. Thinking about Fenris before battle was a mistake. Lauf shook his head. He needed to focus on what he had to do.

* * *

Taking a couple breaths, Lauf readied himself when the Chimera pulled up and stopped under the stone mountain. When the transport stopped, he jumped off and landed in the soft sand beside the vehicle. He went over to the colonel ready to launch his attack. When he saw Lauf approaching, he smiled respectfully,

"Lord Lauf. Good to see you out here. Now we can begin." The colonel motioned with his bionic hand for the Lone Wolf to follow. They walked up around the mountain so they could look down at the Ork base at the other side of the mountain,

"My men have scouted the area. This is the only Ork base here. We destroy this. The Orks are gone from this planet." The colonel explained. Lauf nodded while he drew his sword,

"I'll start dealing with this colonel. Your men better follow shortly. I'll clear the way for them." He said before starting to slide down the side of the dune towards the Ork base below. The Tallarns hiding at the top of the dune watched as Lauf made it all the way down to the bottom and immediately began to charge at the Orks on the perimeter. Lauf slashed down the Orks that tried to stop him. Their focus on the Wolf meant that none of the Orks noticed the Tallarns coming down the dune towards them.

Lauf cut a Nob in two with his sword while a boy tried to hit him from behind, only to get three laser beams hit it in the head dropping the xenos. Lauf looked at the direction of the lasers and saw the guardsmen joining in the fight with the Orks with their heavy weapons on top of the dune, firing down into the Ork base. Slashing another Ork, he cleared the entrance for the Tallarns who began to fan into the base, getting into close quarter combat. The Orks had the strength, but the Tallarns' swords began to make a difference while Lauf searched for the leaders of this Ork band. Moving through the walled sections that made the base's pathways, Lauf cut down any greenskins that tried to get in his way. Climbing over the bodies, he kept searching for the Warboss and his lead Nobs without much success. He left the supplies and weapons of the Orks to the Tallarns. He had his goal and he could not be distracted.

Cutting down an Ork with a large flamethrower on its back, he saw a Nob with a unique banner coming out its back,

"Oi ya git! Ya gone killin' me boyz 'ere!? I'll kill yoo instead!" The Nob began to charge. Lauf guessed by the way the other Orks reacted that this was not the Warboss. But he was one of those lead Nobz he was hunting for. Waiting for just the right moment, he charged at the Nob, colliding with it just by the bodies he had killed. Frost sword and axe locked with Choppa and shoota. The big Ork tried to push Lauf down into the ground with his strength. He broke the weapon lock and drove his sword down.

The Nob screamed in agony when the Frost sword split its foot in two. The Ork was so focused on trying to remove the sword that it did not react to Lauf grabbing its jaws and pulling. With a squishy ripping sound, Lauf tore the Nob's head off and threw it aside. Just as the Ork's body hit the earth, Lauf was already running in the direction the Nob had come from. If the Warboss was anywhere, he guessed it was there. Getting through the pass-ways without much difficulty, he came to a central clearing right in the middle of the base where there were a group of large Nobz banging their choppas on the ground around a big pillar with a metal Ork skull on the very top. Standing before all the nobz was the biggest Ork Lauf had ever seen. The xeno was covered in plates of crude metal all over its body, making a steam powered power suit that had several poles sticking out the back with banners and skulls hanging off them. On its right arm there was an oversized 'shoota' with at least three working barrels and two that were rusted so much they seemed to be hanging onto the shoota simply because the Warboss wanted it. Which, given Lauf's knowledge of the Orks, was probably the case.

On the Ork's left arm, he could see a large power-klaw with two 'fingers' and a 'thumb' that the Warboss used to club a small Ork in the head after running up to tell the Warboss about the attack on their base,

"I know aboot t'e attack ya git." He grumbled before seeing Lauf and grinning,

"Well. Lookie' 'ere boyz! A Spess Marine! Get'em." The Nobz began to run at Lauf to carry out their Warboss' order. Lauf clutched both his weapons and charged into the mob of Orks. Blood and other smells filled his nostrils. Shouts, cries and screams rang in his ears. Dust, debris and green blinded his eyes. A sharp sense flying up his arms told him when he connected. Thuds echoed and informed him another enemy fell to his blades. This was the world Lauf was used to. Relying on all his senses at the same time, he was a whirlwind of blue energy and stinging metal as he chopped down the Nobz all trying to claim his head for their warboss. Finally decapitating the last Nob, he was alone with the Warboss. However, the Warboss was still fresh while Lauf was wear after fighting through so many of his Orks. Taking a few breaths, Lauf regained some of his strength before beginning to run at the Warboss.

Lauf swung hard, but easily caught as the Warboss raised his klaw and blocked his strike. Then almost lazily the Ork backhanded Lauf, sending him flying across the open area into some of the dead bodies. Struggling up, he charged again as the Warboss began to fire at him. The fire did not hit close to Lauf as he tackled into the Ork. The heavy armour of the Warboss stopped Lauf's charge as he followed it with another strike that knocked Lauf to the ground. The Warboss came and looked down at Lauf,

"So pat'etic Spess Marine. I expec'ed a good fight. But yer soo weak…" The minute the Warboss said weak, Lauf felt his vision begin to blur and the voice of the Sorcerer in his ear. The last thing he remembered was feeling his hands drop his axe and sword.

* * *

The Tallarns pushed through the pass-ways and reached the centre point of the base. The guardsmen had struggled through the base for most of the day, the Orks making them fight the whole way. When they got there, they stared in shock at the scene before them. Steam hissed from the heavy armour that the Warboss had worn. But when they came around, they looked at the Ork's body torn to shreds with both its arms and head ripped off by something with long claws and incredible strength. The wounds all across the Warboss' body looked like claws had ripped through the armour and flesh. The Tallarns moved past the body, afraid that whatever had torn the Warboss apart was still around. A sound coming from the side of the opening drew the guardsmen's eyes and las-guns in that direction. Then a few orks moved up and fell down when Lauf pushed them off him. He climbed out of the pile of Ork bodies he had been buried under, covered in blood. The Tallarns all cheered when they saw the Space Wolf while he picked up his sword and axe,

"Guardsmen. What's the situation?" He asked the nearest Tallarn who approached,

"My lord. The Orks have been scattered into the desert. Rough Riders are chasing them down as we speak. When the Warboss fell, the other Orks just started running away in different bands." The Tallarn explained as Lauf nodded,

"And how many men died?" He asked,

"The number has not been accounted. But it was high my lord." Lauf nodded. He had hoped his efforts had saved some lives like his lord the Great Wolf would have wanted him. He shook off the last blood and bits of gore from his hair and arms before he walked with the Tallarns out of the Ork camp while some were setting it on fire, purging any Ork spores that had been released. At least they hoped.

The men took him to the general, who thanked Lauf for helping his men destroy these Orks. The Inquisitor had joined them with a wicked smile that made Lauf's skin crawl,

"And thank you Space Marine. Your actions here were the perfect distraction for me to deal with the cultists. They never thought I would be able to swoop in with some Sisters of Battle and arrest them. Those Sisters' faith is very useful at times." The Inquisitor commented as Lauf wished he could punch this man right now. But he stayed his hand. The general continued with his thanks as he informed Lauf that since they wiped out the Orks, his men had found more refugees and had brought them back to the shrine of the God-Emperor. Lauf was relieved to hear that some more people were safe. The look in the Inquisitor's eyes made Lauf nervous though. Something was off, but for now he simply followed the general to a chimera that was waiting to take him back to the shrine. Climbing on board, he watched the Inquisitor who was standing by the table the general had been using. As the transport drove away, Lauf could not shake a feeling of unease as his hand rested on his frost-sword.

* * *

Later Laud stood before the shrine of the Emperor behind a small group of refugees that had taken refuge inside the shrine during the fighting they had with the Orks and the tiny cult that had been smoked out on this world. The Tallarns had performed admirably, purging the Orks while the Sisters had gone with the Inquisitor to eradicate the people who had been part of the Chaos Cult that tried to summon daemons and got Orks instead. Even so, the Inquisitor had ordered the entire force to undergo Inquisitorial debriefing, with the highly likely fate that most of the troops would die from the debriefing or being found guilty of some heresy. Lauf wanted to stop the Inquisitor from forcing the soldiers into these interrogations, but he was outnumbered by the more than 1,000 Sisters of Battle who were more than happy to help the Inquisitor with beginning the interrogations,

"My lord?" Lauf was pulled out of his thoughts when a young, heavily pregnant woman gets his attention,

"Are you alright?" She asked as Lauf gave her a small smile. The girl could not be older than 22 and from her scent, Lauf could guess that in the next couple of weeks, her child would be born,

"Yes I am. Is that your first pup?" He asked, looking at her swollen belly. She smiled back and gently rubbed her stomach,

"Yes. I hope my child is born healthy, like their father. He's a member of the governor's staff." She said as Lauf hid his sadness. The governor and his staff had been arrested for being unable to prevent the Ork infestation. He doubted they would be alive by the end. But for now, he stayed smiling at the young woman as she returned to praying to the Emperor and his saint to thank them for sending their saviours. The pilgrims especially thanked the Emperor for sending, 'One of his wolves to kill the coyotes that was coming for his sheep.' Lauf felt a bit better about that comparison. He still knew the Emperor was a man, but he was, 'one of his wolves' after all. The quiet praying was interrupted by sounds coming from the entrance of the humble shrine. The pilgrims all stood up and looked towards the door,

"Wait here." Lauf warned as he took his sword and axe off his hips while walking outside. When he went through the door, he stood outside the simple shrine among the destroyed buildings that had been devastated by the fighting here. In front of the door leading into the shrine, eleven sisters of battle, the worst of the worst in this fanatical batch, led by their senior Seraphim Riviel stood with their weapons out,

"What is going on here sister?" Lauf demanded. He had a very bad feeling about what they wanted and he adjusted his feet slightly to take a defensive stance,

"We are here to carry out Inquisitor Marfa's order to purge this planet of all chaotic taint. That means those filthy heretics that defile this holy shrine must be purged." Riviel commented, making Lauf's hair stand up while the pilgrims had crept out of the shrine to see what was going on. The young pregnant woman was in the front of the group, looking to see what Lauf was doing,

"Sister. I have checked over these people. They are pure of taint. They are simple servants of the Imperium. No threat to this world or the Imperium." Lauf warned, but he could see this was going to end badly. His weapons lifted slightly and his body tensed, ready at a second's notice to snap forward and attack. The sisters seemed to not be taking him seriously at all. All their weapons were held low and their posture was completely relaxed and that worried him even more,

"Our orders are clear. If the Inquisition orders it, so shall we do." Riviel stated as all of them now became dangerous in their posture. Lauf stood his ground in between the sisters and the civilians,

"Sister…." Before he could say another word, sister Riviel lunged forward, propelled by her jet-pack and fired one bolt round. It struck the young woman Lauf had spoken with earlier directly in the head and she fell to the ground, dead,

"Purge these…" One of Riviel's sisters started to shout just as Lauf ran forward and cut her arm right off with a howl of rage. The other sisters were caught off guard by this sudden fury and got frozen in shock. None of them moved when he charged and cut off the leg of a Sister with a flamer. One next to her tried to bring her bolter up. Too slow as Lauf slashed across her chest with his axe, the blade cleaving through the armour like a piece of paper. These sisters had made a fatal mistake. They had provoked a Lone Wolf and now they began to pay the price. He proceeded to slash and hack through the sisters until all but Riviel were lying on the ground with various wounds or limbs missing. Seeing the reality of her stupidity, Riviel tried to flee, only to be chased by Lauf up to a higher level of the destroyed building next to the shrine. She cowered before Lauf as he towered over her. The proud, haughty and holier than thou attitude that Sister Riviel displayed was now replaced with fear and a feeling a vulnerability, as the sister stood on both feet and unholstered her Chainsword, having no other choice but to fight her way out of this situation,

"So be it Mi'lord, if this is what you want, then I shall give it to you!" as she lunged, underhand swinging the Sword in hopes it would quickly end the Astartes,

"I don't wanna fight you!" The Sister shouted as Lauf scoffed. Almost casually, he caught the chainsword with his axe and pulled it away. Pulling all the strength he could from his arm, he back-swung his sword down. The blade cut into Riviel from the top of her skull, down across her left eye and her lip. It continued down, splitting her chin and cutting into the bone of her sternum. The armour did not stop his strike as it finished cutting into the top of her hip on the right side. Pulling his sword away from Riviel, Lauf felt her hot blood pour out from the massive wound, oozing out from between the cracks of the power armour that had split like a piece of cloth against the frost-sword. He left the Sisters lying in gathering pools of their own blood when other Sisters rushed to aid their wounded, not stopping Lauf as he made his way towards a waiting Valkyrie. He would remember the Inquisitor that had given this order to kill innocents. He fought xenos, daemons, heretics, and fanatics not just for vengeance and the people of the Imperium. He fought for his own honour. Because if he ever wished to return to Fenris, he would do it without feeling ashamed to call himself a Son of Russ again. He held his head high as he entered the Valkyrie and watched as it rose, heading towards the ships in orbit, ready to take him after the Sorcerer in the next system. No matter how many years it took, he would find that Sorcerer, the Thousand Son called Ramses, and make him pay for his kinsmen.

 **To be continued...**


	7. A Hunter's Prey

Ten years since he stood up to those religious fanatics, Lauf's hunt for Chaos Sorcerer Ramses had continued across the galaxy. Every time he seemed to be getting closer to catching up to him, the cowardly witch managed to slip away thanks to interference from either other Chaos forces or some xenos forces that he had managed to bring into their fights. From these encounters Lauf had gained more scars, more battle experience, and angrier at the different enemies of the Imperium. His hunt had brought him from the Segmentum Obscurus to the edge of the Segmentum Pacificus.

Once again he had followed a lead about Ramses to an Imperial world. Once again the lead had turned out to be a mistaken report and once again, Ramses had slipped away to torment Lauf with his continued existence. Sitting down next to a crate marked with the seal of the Administratium inside a Dominator Cruiser, Lauf considered his luck and whether the Allfather was playing him for a naïve pup. Glancing down at his axe, he looked closely at the Fenrisian runes engraved on the head of the blades and what had happened on the last planet he had pursued the Sorcerer to.

 **On the jungle world of Mortikah III** , Lauf trudged through an acidic swamp, fuming. He had tracked Ramses to this world and anticipated a chance to get revenge for his brothers. What he had found was a group of tribes given over to Nurgle to stem the effects of a flesh-rotting disease that permeated the planet. No doubt put there by one of the Chaos-gods' agents to gift this world to him. Lauf had attempted to interrogate some of the villages in the hope that one might be able to tell him about the sorcerer before he gave them the Emperor's Peace. Instead he was swarm attacked by various plague-ridden villagers and Plaguebearers.

He had smelled the putrid daemons long before he saw them, but he was surprised by the extensive number. His master-crafted sword and axe clashed with the rusted pieces of metal the villagers and daemons carried. He had fought with all he had, making sure to not let a single blade held by the villagers and the daemons touch him due to the toxins and diseases covering each weapon. Lauf's Space Marine physiology and constant close-quarter combat for the past thirty years showed. Blades of all sizes and shape were blocked or deflected by his sword and axe. The daemons and corrupted villagers had numbers on their side, but Lauf's experience showed.

Two plaguebearers charged at Lauf from the front wielding rusted blades with the shape of meat-cleavers in their hands. A corrupted villager came at Lauf from the back with a short spear with an oozing poison covering the head, aiming right at the middle of Lauf's spine. The attempt at sneaking in the strike would not work on the Lone Wolf. The stink coming off the ooze on the spear-head told him where the villager was as he swung his axe in a back-handed movement. The outside head caught the wrist of the first plaguebearer and pulled it into the path of the second while Lauf continued spinning, his sword following his axe. The bluish-grey field covering his sword sizzled with energy when it met daemonic flesh. The sword cut deep through the guts of the first and second plaguebearer in a clean horizontal line. When Lauf pulled his sword through, the slice it left on the daemons' stomachs opened with the foulest fumes Lauf's nostrils had the misfortune of smelling that was quickly followed by the oozing and putrid guts of both daemons. The creatures were unconcerned by the fact they were fighting with their internal organs hanging down their stomachs and wrapped around their feet. Their joy at spreading the 'gifts' of Nurgle was quickly stopped when Lauf twisted his wrist, freeing his axe to come back and cut through the Plaguebearers' necks. When the axe met daemonic flesh, the runes glowed brighter for an instant and the daemons actually screamed in pain before disappearing in a gush of warp-fire.

Focused on 'killing' the two daemons in front of him, Lauf just remembered the villager with the spear right before it plunged into his back. Spinning around and to the left, the Space Wolf just managed to avoid being impaled, taking on a grazing scratch on the armour covering his arm. In response to the cultist's insult at 'scratching' him, Lauf brought his sword down directly in the middle of the man's skull. The rotten flesh and bone gave way to the force of the strike in his sword. Lauf pulled his sword down and through the man's body, bisecting him vertically. As Lauf's sword finished slicing through the final weakened tendons and flesh of the cultist's hip, he watched the body fold apart and collapse to the ground, a stinking, rotten corpse. One of several Lauf had already brought down with his strikes and counters.

Turning around he rushed at a female cultists that was howling praises and prayers to Nurgle as she waved a long piece of steel that resembled a wide-bladed sword, but with an edge only on the one side. The woman tried to swing at Lauf with her strange sword shouting another praise of Nurgle. With well-trained and practiced steps Lauf side-stepped the woman's attack, bringing his axe up and across his chest, right at nose-height of the corrupted woman.

The decaying and rotten flesh gave way at the passing of the frost-axe with the same sounds as a wet paper bag tearing open. Lauf pulled his axe through the woman's head, watching the top portion fly into the canopy above him. The rest of the corpse fell to its knees, poisoned blood spurting out of the remaining attached portion of the woman's head before it fell to the side, hitting the earth of the ground with a thud. He did not spend too long looking at the corpse as he still had more followers of Nurgle coming towards him. Charging forward, he slashes at the throat of a man holding a glaive-like weapon with his sword. The sword sliced through the flesh with ease and the cultist desperately clutched at his throat as a spray of putrid blood. The cultist did not feel the pain thanks to the 'gifts' bestowed on him by Nurgle, but the blood-loss from Lauf cutting through the man's neck caused him to fall to the ground dead. Lauf looked around at the remaining daemons and cultists who were advancing towards him. They came in single or pairs at a semi-circle to his front. Glancing back quickly Lauf saw no enemy to his rear. That made things simple.

Scrapping his sword and axe together, Lauf grinned with his canines showing. As he began to rush towards the leftmost chaos slaves, the runes on his weapons began to glow brightly. Howling so loud that it drowned out the other sounds, Lauf swung his axe and stabbed his sword at the two cultists. Even though they raised their weapons in an attempt to block the frost weapons, their rusted metal was no match for the quality of his weapons and his strikes smashed through and pierced the flesh of the two mutated humans. They screamed in pain as Lauf twisted and pulled his weapons out of the wounds. Making sure the two where dead, he cut off their heads with a quick swing from his sword before jumping onto an overturned cart to use as a springboard. Leaping into the air towards the nearest plaguebearer he raised his axe high above his head, light glinting off the edge. It shown behind Lauf as he brought his axe down onto the daemon's skull. It split with a wet splat as he followed the blow by throwing his sword into the chest of a second plaguebearer that began to run at him. Both daemons screamed as they disappeared in a burst of warp energy, dragged back into the Immaterium to face the wrath of their putrid lord. He finished off the last cultist by horizontally slicing the man's body. He watched as the torso fell to the ground, followed shortly by his legs.

Wiping off the pus and rotten blood from his weapons, Lauf looked closer at the runes. Until now he had never taken much time to examine them. They were the work of Rune Priests who had blessed the weapons before he had left Fenris. At the time he was too focused on getting revenge to pay any attention to what the Rune Priests had been telling him. Now he wished he had when a whisper reached his ears,

 _'_ _Remember Lauf…..'_ **The voice** suddenly snapped Lauf out of his memory as he stopped looking at his axe. Sighing as he leaned against the side of the cargo hold, he wondered why that whisper sounded so familiar to him. His mind stayed on that thought as sleep slowly overtook the Bloodclaw and his eyes closed. As he slept, the memory of when his pack was killed did not come back like it had for almost twenty years. Now his dreams were of strange places and sights. Some he had already seen. Others he did not recognize in his delirious state. Sights of mountains taller than the sky and canyons so large they could swallow a battleship. At first he thought they were images of his homeworld, but the smells were different, alien. The dream changed again and now showed an image of a setting sun in front of a peaceful lagoon. Lauf looked down at the sand under his feet. He had seen sand only once ten years ago. The strange dreams continued until Lauf finally woke up and looked around. Sitting up straight and cracking his neck, he pondered the visions he had just witnessed in the dream. So many of the places he had seen were unknown to him and many others that seemed familiar were different than he recalled. He clutched his head as it began to throb. The dream was so confusing and he was no Rune Priest. He could not divine some message from the dream like they could. Taking a few breaths, he calmed down and eased the pain in his head enough that he could stand up and go to the bridge. Quickly swallowing a nutrition tablet from the stock he kept on his person, Lauf walked out of the cargo hold into the lower passages of the Dominator.

Walking through the tight space heading from the cargo bay towards the bridge, Lauf looked around at the passage he was traveling through. The blackened metal that all Imperial warships are made from surrounded him in the hallway without any lines or evidence of how large each piece of metal was before the ship was built in the shipyards of the Imperium. Light was provided by small lights hanging from the roof. They gave the whole hall a very dim glow that would hurt a regular human's eyes. Lauf's enhanced eyes could see very well even with the poor light.

Along with the dim light came smells of machine lubricants, rusting steel, and human desperation. The last smell became stronger when Lauf rounded a corner to see a group of indentured crewmembers walking towards him. There was a rattling sound that came with each step the group took as a result of the chain that was attached to one of the crewmember's ankles. They had to walk in-step because otherwise the chain would trip the group. The group walked up to Lauf and tried to pass the big Space Marine in the tight hallway. Lauf turned slightly to let them pass him. The mortals walked by him without ever looking up to meet his gaze. As they passed, he noticed the boney protrusion that jutted from their skin looking like the peaks of a mountain range as seen from above. He did not say a word to them as they finished passing, heading deeper into the ship to work until they die. It was a pitiful existence and he did not envy the indentured crew-men's fate.

When he started towards the elevator that would take him up to the bridge's level, the ship rocked violently. The motion caused Lauf to be thrown against one side wall and then to the other. Hitting the second wall he shouted in shock when he struck it back first. Shaking his head to get rid of the shaking feel in his ears, he got his footing just when the ship shook a third time. Another explosion shook the 'bones' of the ship and knocked the lights in the hall, leaving it completely dark. The blackness was so complete that even Lauf could not see his hand in front of his face. But he was able to still smell anything coming towards or behind him. As he began to sniff the air for any new scents, he picked up one. It was very different from a human's. It smelled of pure evil and wickedness, which Lauf had never met over the course of his travels. Not even Ramses had this stink in his scent. This scent came from above and in front of him. The smell made the hair on the back of his neck stand up and his hands creep down to the hilts of his sword and axe. As he gripped the weapons, screams and weapons fire came from the hall behind him. He raced back through the passage with his axe in hand.

Following his nose, Lauf finally stopped in a section of the hallway where the scent of evil was strongest. When he took another step, his boot came down on something wet and squishy. Stepping back and leaning down, he reached down with two fingers and rubbed them in the strange substance. Getting a good coating on his fingers, he lifted them up to his nose and inhaled the scent. Blood, and it was human. The scent was from one of those indentured crewmen he had passed earlier. Someone, or something had attacked them. Standing up, he felt the air temperature plummet, the pool of fresh blood freezing into a macabre crystal.

He felt it, a presence in the hall with him. Flexing his fingers around his axe to quickly loosen them up, he spins around with a swing of his weapon. The frost-axe bites into the black and green flesh of the Mandrake that tried to catch him by surprise. The Dark Eldar's body came apart as Lauf's axe finished cutting through the monster. The glow of the Mandrake's skin illuminated the part of the hallway slightly and showed him the pools of blood and lack of bodies. Lauf growled in disgust and anger. The Mandrake's appearance told him the fate of those wretched souls and there was nothing he could do to change it.

Taking his sword off his hip, Lauf began to run back the way he had come. He wanted to reach the bridge and find the captain. If Dark Eldar are attacking the ship, they could not let it fall. As he ran through the darkened hallways, he let his nose guide him towards the concentrations of human scent he could pick up. As he ran through the passages, he used the mental map he had made when he first came onboard the ship. He did not come across any other Dark Eldar as he ran, but he could hear las-fire and other battle sounds when he got near a section of the ship that would allow him to go up to one of the halls that led to the bridge.

Lauf rushed towards the battle with his weapons at the ready. Bursting through a door, Lauf looked around the chamber at the carnage. He could count over a dozen imperial armsmen scattered on the floor in various amounts of dismemberment with pools of blood flowing around them. Looking further in the room, he noticed multiple dark Eldar warriors lying dead on the floor with autogun rounds turning them into xenos swiss cheese. The dead xenos were almost entirely Dark Eldar kabalite warriors and even a few wyches, all lying in pools of their own foul blood. Lauf stepped over the human bodies and on the xenos, feeling one of the Dark Eldar's skulls crunch underneath his foot when he approaches the makeshift position a squad of Imperial navy armsmen had set up to repel the Dark Eldar.

Coming towards the position, the mortal humans manning the makeshift barricade of boxes, barrels, chairs, and metal sheets kept their weapons trained on Lauf. The lights were still mostly knocked out from the surprise attack so all the armsmen could see was a giant figure approaching. Lauf could understand their fear as he lowered his weapons,

"Emperor's peace upon you armsmen. I am a friend." He called to the men and women behind the barricade who seemed to stay still to listen to him,

"Step forward slowly!" A voice, used to giving commands from the sound of it called out from the barricade as Lauf carefully moved to obey his demand. Normally he would not take orders from just anyone, but the evidence around the room told him that these armsmen were to be taken seriously. He walked forward as slowly as they asked, the darkened room making it hard to tell who he was. Once he stepped into the light enough for the armsmen to see his face and armour, they all dropped to their knees,

"My lord! Forgive our foolishness." The sergeant-at arms begged as he stood at the front of the humans in the barricade.

"Rise armsmen. You have done well here." said Lauf as he put his sword back on his hip as he offered a hand to help the sergeant up,

"What is your name?" The man had a deep scar running up the right side of his face and cutting into the top of his head, splitting the crop of dark red hair with specks of grey coming in. His deep grey-blue eyes were sunken and sombre, evidence of a man who had seen many horrible things in his life. Lauf noticed that even though the sergeant's eyes were sombre, they did not seem like the eyes of a weak man. This was someone who had faced horrors and was still standing. Understandable if he had been made a sergeant.

"Sergeant at Arms Ramiel my lord." Ramiel said proudly as he stood in front of Lauf,

"Sergeant Ramiel. Is this all the men you have left?" He asked, looking at the eight armsmen with sergeant Ramiel,

"Yes my lord. These are the only lads I was able to save. The others with us…. Are lying behind you. Killed by those disgusting xenos." Ramiel spat on the body of one of the Dark Eldar near the barricade. Lauf looked closer at the eight armsmen. None looked older than twenty-two Terran years,

' _Pups.'_ Lauf thought even as he examined each of the armsmen to see how they had fared. Had they actually fought, or did they simply cower behind this barricade while their comrades died? The still bleeding wounds on the mortals told Lauf they had fought back. This made him more confident that they could survive. He had to smile as he looked into the eyes of each armsmen. The look they returned told him they wanted revenge for their murdered comrades. He turned back to Ramiel,"Sergeant you know what we must do." Said Lauf.

Ramiel nodded, understanding what Lauf was implying. The nine of them needed to get to the bridge of the ship and find out who was in command. If the captain was still alive, then they could help him defend the ship. If he was not, then they would make sure that this ship and what remained of its crew would not fall into the hands of these most depraved of xenos,

"We'll help you clear the way to the bridge my lord. Don't want you to have all the fun sticking it to these raiders." Ramiel cocked his autogun as the other armsmen nodded their agreement to the sergeant-at arms' statement. Lauf smiled at their enthusiasm,

"Very good sergeant. Let's get to the bridge." Lauf left the room, leading the nine mortal soldiers directly behind him. The sergeant pointed down one hallway, indicating the direction they had to go. Lauf nodded to Ramiel as he started running down the hall followed by the armsmen.

After running through the halls and swerving through various passages, up and down side corridors and through access tunnels, Lauf stopped so the armsmen could catch their breath in a small mess that served the officers of this ship. They were no good getting to a fight exhausted and frankly, the previous users of this room would not complain about the 'common filth' using it. Lauf looked down at the officers' bodies on the floor of the mess or on the various furniture. Not a single one of them had a weapon in their hands. They had been killed without fighting back. Lauf felt utter disgust as he kicked one of the bodies over to look down at the dead man's face. The smell coming from the dark stain on the pants told him what the man had done before dying while he looked at the tear stains on the corpse's cheeks. Rather than fight and die like a man, this pathetic piece of refuse had wept and insulted his uniform before dying like a dog.

Turning his attention from the dead officers, Lauf surveyed the room. The mess was as fine as could be expected of an Imperial navy ship. Its furniture was made of a mix of metal and soft fabrics. The armsmen had never seen some of the fabrics covering the furniture. Two of the armsmen took the opportunity and sat down on two fine chairs and plopped their feet against the table. Their relaxation was quickly ended by a blow to their back of their heads by sergeant Ramiel, who barked a reminder that they were still in hostile territory. The two armsmen got back into position and rested as the sergeant ordered.

As the soldiers drank from their canteens, Lauf heard a cackle barely audible to his enhanced ears. Raising his hand to silence all the noises from the armsmen, he listened carefully. The cackling sounded like a young woman meeting a lover. The sound was not human though. Lauf growled as he could guess what sort of Dark Eldar was coming. A soft clacking sound echoed down the hall and was drawing closer to them.

Lauf motioned with his hand for the armsmen to take up positions as he readied his weapons. The sound got closer as he tried to pierce the darkness of the hallway with his eyes. The pitch black was all that he could see as the sound grew louder, making the armsmen tremble a bit. A glance to sergeant Ramiel steadied their nerves as they aimed their autoguns at the hallway when the figure finally started to come into view.

Ramiel waited until they could almost see the Dark Eldar's face and then shouted to fire. All nine autoguns fired at the same time, bullets shooting out of each barrel down into the hallway, where they struck wall. Lauf gritted his teeth as the Wych laughed heartily, her blade-whip twirling around her like the tail of a snake after it had deflected the shots with only a simple flick of her wrist,

"How pathetic you creatures are. Scurrying about trying to avoid us. Though it does make the game more interesting. I grow bored with this part. Now hopefully one of you can provide me with some entertainment. I might even let you live in exchange. If not. I'll simply flay you all here. Either way, I will be amused." The small box attached to the Wych's throat crackled every-time she opened her mouth, translating the words she spoke into Low gothic. Lauf knew no Dark Eldar would 'sully' themselves with using their language. Lauf stepped forward. He was the only one here who had hope of surviving a fight with this monster,

"Oh good! My prey steps forward." She commented, happily whipping her blade forward and snapping it back a fraction of an inch from Lauf's face. Her wicked smile only grew as she saw he had not flinched,

"We'll see who's prey here monster." Lauf growled as he held his weapons out in front of him. Roaring a battle cry he charged the Wych. Getting within range he swung his axe, aiming at her neck. The frost-axe swung with a hissing sound as it came to the Wych's location and struck empty air. The Wych laughed as she dodged Lauf's strike and moved to face the armsmen behind him. She flicked her wrist again and the blade-whip shot up, slashing through Lauf's arm, digging into the flesh with each blade segment like the teeth of a chainsword. Lauf growled from the pain but did not focus on it as he spun around and stabbed at the Wych with his sword. Again she dodged the strike, this time jumping into the air with a back-flip. She landed hand-first on the flat of Lauf's sword and used it as a platform to jump over the Space Wolf and land behind him, her sword following her movement before slashing down and cutting across his chest, drawing a fine gash across his breastplate that dripped blood before his enhanced physique sealed the wound with a new scar. The Dark Eldar was positively giddy with excitement, drinking in Lauf's anguish and the horror of the armsmen at seeing a Space Marine being made a fool so easily,

"Oh this is fun. I will enjoy toying with you." She said, licking some of Lauf's blood off her sword with her long, gentle pink tongue. She let it hang out of her mouth for a few seconds with the droplets on its tip before she pulled it inside her mouth and let it swish around. At that moment, something in Lauf's blood made her pause and seem to lose focus. That pause made her slow to react when the frost-sword came at her from the right side. The Wych just managed to roll out of the way of Lauf's strike but now she was on the defensive. When she tried to bring her blade-whip across his face, Lauf's axe was already in its way, blocking the strike. He grinned as she was un-nerved,

"My turn." With that simple phrase, Lauf charged in close and attacked. The Wych was still fast and nimble, but now her footing was off and Lauf pressed his advantage. Each strike he made got closer, every dodge the Wych managed was a fraction slower. The armsmen held their fire as they watched Lauf become a whirl of sword and axe strikes and the Wych unable to land her own blows even with her incredible reflexes and experience. At one point, Lauf's sword caught the Wych in the face, making a small cut running down the side of her cheek and drawing a thin trail of blood. The Wych jumped back and felt her face. The minute she noticed the blood, she looked at Lauf with murderous intent,

"HOW DARE YOU MAIM MY BODY!" She screached with rage as she lunged towards him,

"YOU WILL BEG FOR DEATH AFTER THE PAIN I WILL INFLICT!" She shouted, snapping her blade forward at Lauf's neck. The crash of metal on metal echoed through the mess as the armsmen were blinded for a second when a bright light erupted from the two combatants at the moment the blade-whip struck.

When they were able to open their eyes again, the armsmen saw Lauf's frost-axe cleaving through the metal linking two segments of the sword together. With a grunt of effort, Lauf pushed his axe through, splitting the wych's sword while dropping his own weapon and reaching out to wrap his fingers around her throat. The Wych coughed and struggled as she brought her hands up to try and pull Lauf's fingers off her neck while he lifted her up to look him in the eyes,

"Who is the prey now?" He demanded. She looked him directly in the eye and saw something within them that made her spit into his face,

"You are…" She started to say only to be silenced when Lauf tightened his grip around her neck and grabbed her by the leg. Lifting her above his head, he howled loudly before hurling her down. She struck his knee with a loud CRACK as the segment of spine that met his knee was broken into many various pieces. Letting go, the Wych fell to the floor and lay there. The last thing she saw was Lauf standing over her and bringing an armoured foot above her face.

Wiping the bone and brain matter from the Wych across the floor, Lauf picked up his weapons and looked at the armsmen,

"Come. This was just one xeno. No telling how many more there are between us and the bridge." He commented as the armsmen nodded before running towards the other passage that led them towards the main floor and the bridge of this cruiser. Lauf wondered what had made the Wych pause and stare into his eyes. Shaking his head to clear his mind, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind. That thought could wait. For now, he had to focus on reconquering this ship before more people were dragged away by the Dark Eldar to a fate worse than death.

TO BE CONTINUED


	8. The Wolf that Stalks the Stars

Dark Eldar of the Cursed Claw Kabal laughed as they peeled strips of skin off the voidsmen who had been cursed to manning these three rooms that contained water recycling equipment. The voidsmen, all immediate family members were screaming and crying out in agony as they were flayed alive. Any pleas for mercy by the humans was answered with laughter from the Dark Eldar, followed by more cruel and sadistic tortures. At the moment the depraved xenos were focusing their torture on a young girl, only around eleven terran years old with dark brown curls and soft grey eyes. One warrior was laughing as he almost casually removed a bit of skin from the centre of the girl's right palm. Her screams echoed through the room while her father cried his daughter's name out. He was holding his right eye in its socket with one hand after the Dark Eldar had pulled it out during his last torture session. Her screams brings a smile to the warrior as the skin was completely removed leaving the tissue underneath exposed to the air. The girl screams even louder when her torturer blew a breath of air on the bleeding wound. The Dark Eldar reaches down with a single armoured finger to force the girl's face up to look up at him, "Slave. This pain is such a delicious banquet. Don't worry there will be more of this when we….."

The Dark Eldar's sadistic speech is literally cut short when his head separates from his body. The other Dark Eldar turn their attention to where their compatriot's body fell to the floor. They see a giant warrior standing in front of the dead warrior. He was wearing dull blue-grey power armour with a dark-brown fur-pelt laid over the top of his backpack and shoulders. A power-sword and power-axe were being held in experienced hands. Both weapons glowed with a light blue light. The Dark Eldar rushed to bring their weapons up to fire. Before they were able to start shooting there was a loud BANG of gunshots and snaps of light that came from the hall out of the room. Autogun shells flew out of the darkness and slammed into the Dark Eldar, splattering blood and bits of armour on the faces of the voidsmen on the floor around the room. Some of the Dark Eldar managed to avoid being killed by the autogun shots and tried to fire back at whoever was shooting from the hall.

The xenos' counterattack did not last long when Lauf charges at them. He tackles the first Dark Eldar he gets close to and cuts him open from just below the hips up to below the ribcage with his sword. Jerking his hand hard he pulls the sword free and hacks into the next Dark Eldar near him. Two of the warriors see Lauf as the threat he is and turn their splinter rifles at him while he was busy impaling another of the warriors. Lauf notices the splinter rifles turning towards him just before they begin firing. Facing the oncoming fire with the dying Dark Eldar in front of him, Lauf uses the body as a shield to absorb the splinter fire from his fellows.

The fire from the xenos shred the dying Dark Eldar stuck on Lauf's sword before he throws the body towards the shooters. It crashes into the two, knocking them to the ground. Grunting in anger as they push the body of their former ally the two warriors cannot react in time as the Space Wolf's axe comes down in a wide arc, decapitating the two. The heads roll across the floor in different directions from the twitching bodies. When some of the other Dark Eldar still alive in the room try to attack Lauf from behind, the armsmen in the hallway keep shooting their autoguns at the xenos, stalling their attack when they get out of the way of the slugs fired at them.

The Dark Eldar dodge the autogun slugs and fire back with their splinter rifles. Changing their focus on the armsmen that began to come out of the hall into the room is a mistake as one of the captives flings his chains over the warrior's head and wraps them tightly around his neck. The warrior clutches at the chain digging into his neck as he tries to pull it away while the voidsman keeps pulling back to kill this monster. When the other Dark Eldar turns to shoot the attacker, four voidsmen tackle the Dark Eldar and begin to beat him with their chains. The Dark Eldar are so busy trying to hold their former voidsmen prisoners from striking them that they do not see the autoguns pointed at them. The sound of the water recycling machines working muffles the autoguns' BANG, leaving only humans alive in the room.

Sergeant Ramiel searches through the Dark Eldar bodies for the keys to the chains around each of the voidsmen's wrists while the former prisoners weep with joy and thank the God-Emperor for sending his angel and armsmen to save them. Lauf looks over the wretches and the wounds they suffered from the Dark Eldar's torture. He sees that the torture of the Dark Eldar killed ten of the forty voidsmen in this room before they got there to save them.

"Found them!" Ramiel pulls the key set off a Dark Eldar body and starts to go around unlocking the chains on the voidsmen. While the armsmen are freeing the voidsmen Lauf walks over to the oldest man of the group. Kneeling beside the old man, Lauf looks at his pale, blind eyes, "Elder. Is your family able to help us get to the bridge without running through the entire ship?"

"I know a way!" The young girl who had her hand flayed speaks up but has a hand quickly covering her mouth,

"Quiet Vylien! That path is too dangerous!" A woman with similar hair colour to Vylien warns as she keeps her hand over the small girl's mouth,

"Let her speak Isherina. The lord Space Marine is asking for our help." Isherina hesitantly lets her hand move off Vylien's mouth, "Go ahead Vylien." The old patriarch smiles at the girl,

"There's a passage the servitors use to travel without getting stuck in the hallways. It starts a bit down that hall and comes out not too far from the bridge." Vylien explains. She pointed down a hallway that left the room. As Vylien was explaining the route to get quickly up to the bridge the armsmen finished unshackling the crew of the room. The chains all fell to the floor as the family gather around the troops and Lauf to listen to their patriarch's decision, "I can show you the way."

"No pup." Lauf interrupts the excited girl. Just looking at her he could see she would not survive any harsh travel, especially if there was fighting. The flayed sections of skin were still bleeding and she was swaying on her feet,

"Honoured Elder. Can any of your family guide us through this passage?" Lauf asks the old man who thinks about who might be useful as a guide within his family,

"Germael. You know the passage. You will show them where to go." The patriarch says the name of a young man who steps forward. The only wounds he has are a few thin slices around his face, shoulders and chest,

"Yes lord elder." Germael says respectfully while Lauf bows, "Thank you elder. We will send your scion back once we get up to the hall." The old man nods as Germael bows to the Space Wolf. Lauf looks at Ramiel while his men reload their auto-guns in preparation for the next fight they will have.

After a minute, Germael begins to walk towards the section of a wall in the hall leading out of the large room with the recycling equipment with the armsmen and Space Marine behind him. When he gets to the right section Germael begins to undo the bolts holding the metal plate to the wall. While he works the armsmen point their auto-guns down the hallway in case Dark Eldar hear what they are doing and come to investigate. Lauf watches the young man work closely. He must be around twenty terran years old judging by his physique and his height of 6'2". Given the nature of void-life and the hard existence he has led, Germael was quite tall with a lanky frame. His pale blonde hair clung to the left side of his face down to his chin in a lazy arc. Germael pulls the last bolt off the covering and the metal falls off the wall. Germael looks up at Lauf with a proud smile on his mouth,

"Here is our path my lord." "Thank you Germael. We wouldn't have been able to find this without you." Lauf thanks the young man though he knows they would have eventually found the path. It would have just taken much longer,

"I am thankful to aid the God-Emperor's angel of death in killing those accursed xenos." Germael says proudly, his faith in the Emperor clearly evident in his light-grey eyes. Two armsmen enter the open hole in the wall and check either direction of the passage,

"Hallway secure sergeant." One armsman calls back to Ramiel. He nods and motions for the other six marines to get into the passage. He looks at Germael, "Let's go voidsman. You need to show us the way." Ramiel says as Germael nods and climbs into the passage with Lauf following behind him. Ramiel picks up the metal plate and puts it back on the wall as soon as he is inside the passage. He holds it in place while two armsmen put the bolts back into place on this side of the passage. When they are done the hallway looks unchanged,

"This way." Germael whispers as he begins to move through the cramped space of the passage, followed by Lauf, Ramiel and the eight armsmen. The last armsman always checks behind them to make certain they are alone as Germael walks and crawls through the twisting passage. At some points Lauf almost gets stuck and has to push against the ancient pipes to squeeze himself through. The metal groans and cracks against the Space Wolf's actions but eventually he makes it through, creating space big enough for the armsmen to move through with ease. At one point, Lauf gets stuck and cuts the pipe above him in frustration, only get blasted in the face with a jet of steam. He growls in frustration as he pulls himself out of the tight spot, his beard now puffed up to such an extent that his face resembles an ancient terran breed called a Pomeranian.

Three armsmen look at Lauf's newly puffed up beard and fight back a laugh at the sight. Their attempt at staying quiet gets a smack to the back of their heads from Sergeant Ramiel and a snap to keep their mouths shut unless they want one of those shadow monsters coming after them. That quickly kills any stifled laughs from the marines while Germael starts to climb a ladder that is at the end of this part of the service passage. Lauf follows the voidsman with the marines behind him. They climb as quietly as possible as each sound echoes through the tunnel above and below them. One of the armsman's autoguns hit the rail of the ladder and a loud echo flew through the tunnel. Everyone on the ladder froze and listened. The echo continued through the passage for several seconds until the tunnel was silent. The armsman who had let his auto-gun hit the ladder had his ear pulled hard by Sergeant Ramiel, "Idiot. If I had more men I would throw you off this ladder as punishment for this stupidity." He whispers angrily at the marine who nodded fearfully.

Ramiel lets go of the marine's head and pushes him to keep climbing. The marine turns and follows the armsman above him as Germael begins climbing again, moving up the ladder towards the passage that leads to the bridge hall. Lauf stays right behind Germael as the light from his frost-axe illuminates the tunnel in a simple bluish-grey glow. Germael finally gets to the top of the ladder and starts to turn the wheel opening the door blocking their path,

"Warp curses! It's jammed up again!" He complains as Lauf and the armsmen get up to see the door. Thanks to the light from Lauf's Frost-axe they can see that moisture has rusted the hinges. Even with four of the armsmen and Germael trying the door will not move,

"I would shoot the hinges. But the noise would give us away." Ramiel whispers as Lauf grabs his axe's haft,

"Stand clear gentlemen." Lauf warns before he swings and cuts through the two hinges. They split with a simple clicking sound as the door easily slides aside when Germael pulls on it. Once the door is completely out of the way, he leads the armsmen and Lauf down the passage, stopping when he hears wicked laughter coming further down the hall. Lauf sniffs the air and picks up various scents, some human, several xenos. He motions with his hand at Ramiel and his armsmen the number of different xenos smells he picks up. He raises his index finger eight times and Ramiel nods in understanding as each armsmen readies their auto-guns for the fight. Lauf looks down at Germael who waits beside him,

"You have done your task young one. You should go back to your family. Leave the rest to us." Lauf says as Germael nods. He turns and starts to climb back down the ladder going down back to his family's section of the ship is located, leaving the armsmen and Space Wolf alone in the hallway. Once he is certain he will be well out of the way Lauf draws his sword in his free hand,

"Ready sergeant?" He looks at Ramiel who simply smiles back,

"Born ready my lord." He answers before nodding to Lauf as they move along the wall of the hallway towards a light that comes from another hallway. Lauf's enhanced eyes let him see the more intricate gothic designs and the rags of banners depicting the history of the captain of this ship on the walls. Lauf had met the captain before they had set off and now knew how close they are to the bridge. He stops just by the corner to the other hall and tilts his head slowly over to see what is on the other side. What he sees makes his blood boil in fury.

Two voidsmen dance around the hall in front of the bridge door. The lack of heads on the voidsmen and the fact that their bodies are being controlled by four Dark Eldar laughing at the pathetic state of the voidsmen and humanity in general. Their armour have the same colours as the previous Dark Eldar they encountered saying that this is just one xenos Kabal rather than a bunch of groups of Dark Eldar being faced by the surviving humans onboard this warship. They comment how these humans are such easy prey and too boring to make it really worth the effort of torturing them. At least now they can provide them with some amusement with their corpse puppets. One of the Kabalite warriors laughs as he lifts the arm up and waves it around. His laughter is cut short when an axe flies into his head, splitting his skull in two. The other three Dark Eldar stare in surprise as their compatriot falls to the ground. They do not get the chance to shake off their surprise when a roar of anger comes from the corner just as Lauf charges forward and stabs the second Dark Eldar through the heart. The other two Kabalite warriors drop their corpse puppet and rush to grab their weapons. As they start to bring them up a blast of light and snap of sound comes from the corner Lauf burst from as the armsmen leap out, firing their auto-guns at the xenos. The concentrated fire from the guns rip through the off-guard xenos and drop them to the ground. To make sure that they are dead, sergeant Ramiel puts a bullet into each xenos' head,

"All clear my lord." He says to Lauf while the Space Wolf kneels beside the corpses of the unfortunate victims of the Dark Eldar. He puts the hands of the bodies on their chests before bowing his head in respect for the fallen. He holds this position for a few minutes before standing up with his sword and axe in hand,

"Very good sergeant. Let's get inside that room and kill the leader of these disgusting creatures." He kicks the body of one Kabalite warrior next to him aside. He walks towards the doors with the armsmen on either side of the hall. Once they get to the doors the mortals stand to both sides and wait for the right signal. Lauf stands in the right position before nodding. As soon as he does the armsmen begin to pull hard to open the doors as quickly as possible. After some grunts of struggling they finally manage to crack the door open. As soon as the doors are wide enough, Lauf glances through the crack.

Inside the bridge he can see blood splatter and pieces of destroyed uniforms scattered across the stations and even a few bodies lying on the floor. But he cannot see any xenos bodies or blood. That concerns him as he pulls away from the crack in the doors. Lauf squeezes his hands around his sword and axe one more time before he looks at Ramiel and the other Armsmen,

"Grenades sergeant." He whispers to the sergeant, who nods while taking a grenade off his hip at the same time as some of the other armsmen ready their own grenades. Pushing up against each side of the door where they wait for the signal from Ramiel to throw the grenades and assault into the room. Ramiel watches Lauf as the Space Wolf places a hand on each side of the doors,

"Get ready gentlemen. As soon as I push these doors open, show the xenos their mistake of existing." He growls while the Armsmen give affirmative hurrahs as Lauf begins to push on the doors. Slowly they open wider from Lauf's effort. Finally the doors are wide enough to let two men in at any one time,

"Now!" Lauf pushes a bit more and moves back as the Armsmen throw their grenades inside the bridge. There is a few seconds of delay between the grenades being thrown and exploding. When the grenades explode two armsmen rush inside with their autoguns ready. When they take two steps inside the bridge they are answered with a hail of splinter fire that tears their bodies to pieces as the Archon in charge of this raid come rushing out of their hiding places, firing their weapons towards the doors and the armsmen still there.

Three Sslyth and six Incubi warriors come out of their hiding places and begin attacking the humans. The three serpentine monsters each hold two blasters and two melee weapons in their four arms while the Incubi all carry the two-handed power weapon they call a Klaive. The Sslyth fire their two weapons each at the armsmen while the Incubi run towards Lauf shouting their joy at the possibility of taking his head. Ramiel and his men dive for cover under the deadly fire from the Sslyth and begin firing back. They quickly pop out from behind the safety of whatever they are hiding behind to shoot a few rounds before diving back before the Sslyth can shoot them. One armsman stays up too long to try and fire off a few more rounds. Several splinter rounds to the chest and an agony of unbearable pain from the poisoned bullets soon shows him the consequence of his mistake before he expires to Ramiel's anger. The sergeant gets up quickly and fires a burst from his auto-gun. The slugs hit his target's eyes and quickly bury themselves into its brain. The Sslyth flays around for awhile, then it falls to the ground twitching, but definitely dead. Ramiel just manages to avoid retribution from the other two Sslyth by ducking behind his cover when he looks over to see how Lauf is handling the Incubi and the sight brings a smile to his face.

The Incubi are elite Dark Eldar warriors and have masterfully crafted Klaives. But they made the foolish mistake of thinking they could take on Lauf in a contest of strength to prove they are the better warriors. As a result Ramiel can see the heads of three Incubi already rolling on the floor while the remaining two try to rush Lauf and throw him off with two different attacks. The large Klaives swing towards the Space Marine and a loud CLANG echoes through the bridge as the Dark Eldar blades meet Lauf's Frost weapons and stop. Lauf twists his weapons quickly, pulling one Incubus' weapon out of his hands. The Dark Eldar goes to grab a knife on his hip but he is not quick enough when Lauf's sword splits the armour on his chest and comes out the back through the xeno's heart. The dying Incubus tries to grab Lauf but he spins around and pushes the body against the remaining warrior before Lauf swings his axe and decapitates the last warrior. Lauf watches the two bodies fall to the ground before he turns to see how the armsmen fared against the Sslyth.

Sergeant Ramiel and three armsmen stand up, the only survivors of the fight against the snake-like xenos. Lauf growls in anger. He had hoped no one else would die at these disgusting creatures' hands when a joyous laugh fills the bridge,

"Splendid! Such warriors you are! Even for such lowly creatures! I have enjoyed this display of skill and am looking forward to seeing how long you might survive in the arenas against true artists of death." Lauf looks over to see the Archon in charge of the force that has attacked this ship come out from behind a chair with a shambling figure beside him. The figure is wearing a purple robe with black gloves covering its arms up to the elbow. Manacles on each wrist are linked to its body by chains. The strangest thing about this being is its head. A silver half-helmet covers the top and sides of a greenish-black orb with a green glow coming from the middle. The back of the helmet has what appears to be a large human brain coming out of it. One of the armsman looks directly into the creature's glowing eye and suddenly falls to the ground writhing in agony,

"Damnit! Don't look at that thing!" Ramiel orders as the Archon laughs before bringing his slave closer to him,

"This will be wonderful to experience back in my tower in Comorrogah. Come pathetic creatures. Let me drink in your fear." The Archon says through the voice box attached to his neck, making his language understandable to the humans standing before him. The armsmen all raise their weapons and start shooting at the Dark Eldar. He laughs as he dodges the slugs, firing his splinter pistol and hitting the two remaining armsmen in the chest and sergeant Ramiel in the shoulder. Lauf gets in the way of the Archon and swings his axe at the xeno's head. The Archon raises a clawed gauntlet and blocks the strike and quickly swings his gauntlet down to turn Lauf's frost-sword from stabbing him in the stomach. The slave near the Archon keeps watching the fighting. As Lauf stops the Archon from shooting him with the splinter pistol or stab him with the claws on his hand, he wonders what the creature is doing watching them. He snaps his head back from glancing at the slave-creature and brings his sword up to deflect the Dark Eldar's strike at his stomach. Lauf turns his sword and swings it back towards the Archon. The Archon moves out of the way of Lauf's swing and rakes his claw across his chest-plate. The claws scrape along the armour, but to the Archon's surprise the claws do not cut through it. They just leave behind the long slash marks on the chest piece while Lauf is able to knock the Archon's splinter pistol out of his hand with a strike from the pommel of his sword against the Archon's wrist.

Trying to stab through the opening, Lauf just misses the Archon as he moves out of the way while cackling excitedly. He looks over at his slave creature that is watching the whole fight. As the Archon raises his hand to say something the creature falls to the ground with a slug in its head,

"I was getting sick of that creature." Ramiel manages to say, clutching his wounded arm while he slumps down against a command console. The Archon stares at his prized slave before glaring at Ramiel,

"YOU INSIGNIFICANT INSE" A sudden pain in the back of the Archon's head is followed by his body pushing forward and slamming against the chair in front of the vox caster as Lauf pushes his axe deeper into the xeno's skull. Howling with fury, Lauf shoves his axe completely through the front of the Archon's head, splitting it in two. He pulls his axe out of the dead archon and wipes the blood off the blade before he runs over to Ramiel and kneels in front of him,

"Looks like you got him my lord." Ramiel mutters as he clutches his arm, "But it seems this won't be a victory I can enjoy." He grimaces as Lauf shakes his head,

"Not a chance sergeant. You're not dying today. No more servants of the Emperor are dying today." Lauf states before he goes towards the command throne and finds the medicae kit. He grabs what he needs and goes back to Ramiel and starts to treat his wound. First he cleans it out, then he covers it with a pad to soak up the blood before wrapping the cloth over top of it. When he's done, Ramiel feels like he can stand up and walks over to the throne and sits down,

"Well my lord. What happens now?" Ramiel asks as Lauf looks around the command throne,

"Now sergeant. Find out who is still alive to get this ship back in order. For me, I will wait here to help where I can before I continue my hunt." He explains which makes Ramiel laugh,

"Well. Thanks to you my lord. I can tell my children that I've seen a wolf stalk through the stars." The sergeant's comment brings a smile across Lauf's lips as he begins to help Ramiel find the highest ranked officer alive on the ship over the ship-wide vox and slowly get the ship back in order as they float through realspace towards the nearest Imperial outpost so they can undergo the proper repair rites for such an attack. Lauf piles the xenos bodies in one side of the bridge as he thinks about the past day. He is still nowhere near finding Ramses. But he did kill a threat to the citizens' of the Imperium and helped save a cruiser. But right now he needed to focus on his hunt across the stars.


	9. The Wolf and the Warlord

**952 M41** , ten years after his encounter with the Dark Eldar out in the void of space and Lauf still has not been able to catch his quarry. All the years have done is drag Lauf around the galaxy chasing after Ramses. Now he is waiting on the forge world Ryza while trying to request transport off-world from the Fabricator-General to continue his hunt. He stands on the outside of one of the multitude of the massive manufactorums on the planet looking out across the surface. Lauf can see the damages from the invasions of the Forge World by two different Ork Waaghs still being repaired by the countless servitors that swarm around the various battle sites cutting up or repairing destroyed machines to be used in the Imperial armies across the galaxy. Lauf taps his fingers on the rail as he waits for word from the Fabricator General's palace about his request for seeing the ruler. Every day he waits here is another day Ramses is able to cause more damage to the Imperium and kill more innocent victims. And the longer the wolf remains stuck on this planet the sooner he will probably do something stupid like try to stow away on one of the various transports travelling off-world. The only reason why he has not done this yet is because when he first arrived on Ryza he was warned specifically by the Fabricator General that if he did anything to disrupt her forge-world. It would not matter that he is an Adeptus Astartes, she would send his gene-seed back to Fenris while his body would be converted to a sewer cleaning servitor. Lauf took the old woman's threat seriously so he has waited as patiently as a wild wolf trapped inside a cage, watching a rabbit wander around just out of reach.

Growling in frustration he turns along the catwalk of the manufactorum and travels from the spot he has been standing for the past hour. Lauf heads towards the ladder going down to the ground so he can walk off his boredom. Moving along the top of the factory Lauf can see through a broken section of the roof down to the manufactorum production floor. There he can see the servitors and tech-priests working on leman russ executioners moving forward on a production track. The smell of burning metal from the melta-torches used by the cyborgs to build the tanks and the crackling energy from the plasma cannons each executioner has in the turrets moving on racks above the floor fill his nostrils. At a specific point of the production line the turrets are lowered from the ceiling and attached from the tech-priests to the hull of the tank. Lauf looks away from the one line and smiles when he sees five other production lines exactly like the first. Seeing the number of war machines being built in this one manufactorum boosts his confidence that the Imperium will continue to stand as the guardian of humanity.

As he watches one of the tech-priest work on an executioner his eyes widen as he remembers that his armour is in need of proper rites of maintenance after so many years on the move chasing Ramses. Lauf starts to climb down the side of the manufactorum to go find a tech-priest to work on his armour. As he slides down the ladder Lauf can see the great doors of the manufactorum open. He watches as a stream of Leman Russ tanks and other war machines built inside roll forward to a waiting land-train. Servitors near the land-train move the tanks and cargo transports onto the cars of the train to be transported off-world at the nearest space-port. Lauf lands on the ground at the bottom of the manufactorum's ladder and he turns around to head towards the land-train. He's certain there must be a tech-priest there and he moves around the various sized containers filled with spare parts for tanks and machines, ammunition for every weapon in the Imperium, and crates filled with pieces for building new colonies on conquered worlds or rebuilding worlds broken by invasions from Chaos, Xenos or rebellion. Walking by one set of crates Lauf looks at the seal indicating their destination. He recognizes the walls, roof and skull of the Cadian seal and smiles. Even a Forge World so relatively close to Terra can send supplies to the most important fortress world in the Imperium. Lauf's smile comes from the knowledge that this small moment on this busy forge world is the epitome of the Imperium. Equipment forged on this planet sent to the far side of the galaxy to be used by warriors such as himself against the many horrors that would love nothing more than seeing the Imperium fall and humanity be consumed in the madness and chaos of this unforgiving galaxy.

A loud horn-like sound draws Lauf out of his little philosophical thought. What a fool he is. He is not some high-born lounging on a family estate high in a hive world debating the finer points of the Imperium with other entitled scions of rich families. He is a Space Wolf, a son of Primarch Leman Russ. Shaking his head to clear it of these foolish day-dreams he turns to see what was making that sound over the various noises around the manufactorum. It does not take long for him to realize why there is this strange horn noise when he looks at the large facility near the manufactorum he has been standing in front of. Its giant front begins to open to the cheers and loud prayers of a gathered crowd of tech-priests, servitors and serfs outside. Lauf sees why as a Warlord Titan comes out of the massive building. Each step it takes makes him jump off the ground as the massive legs slowly lift off the ground one at a time and comes down in a steady rhythm. Lauf starts to make his way away from the manufactorum to reach the tech-priests in front of the Titan bay. He watches as the Warlord walks along a path through this section of the forges, not stepping on anything on the ground. He watches how the titan moves. Having spent enough time around these forge-worlds to learn a bit about the Titans and their princeps commanders, Lauf notices how the titan seems to hesitate with each step,

"I suppose the princeps is new or just wanting to stretch their legs in the titan," Lauf thinks to himself as he finally reaches the crowd venerating the titan outside the storage building where he can see another pair of titans sitting inside. The giant war engines the Mechanicus worship are truly awe-inspiring as he approaches. Looking up at the head of the warlords sitting inside their bays he thanks the Allfather such powerful machines are on their side. While he towers over average humans, standing next to one of the battle titans Lauf feels very small. He keeps his humble feeling to himself when he knocks a tech-priest on the back of his metallic head. The rust-colour robed priest turns and looks in shock at Lauf, not having heard him approach over the chanting and prayers made by the other Machine-God servants, "My lord Space Marine! What can I do for you?"

The tech-priest asks with the mechanical voice and wheezing sounds from his bionic enhancements as his glowing eyes look over Lauf's armour, data flowing through the eyes into his cogitator enhanced brain, "I need you or another of your order to undertake the rites of maintenance and repair on my armour."

Lauf motions to his battered and cleaned up armour. The tech-priest runs his fingers along various parts of the armour getting more information. The eyes seem to be transferring data somewhere else as he continues to examine the armour,

"I cannot perform such rites my lord. But there is plenty priests of the Omnissiah here who can. One is coming right now." He explains as servitors approached with another tech-priest who bows to Lauf,

"My lord. I'm here to perform the rites of maintenance on your armour as you've requested." The second tech-priest explains as Lauf nods, motioning with one hand to let the tech-priest lead on. The priest starts to walk towards one of the buildings near the Titan storage with his servitors and Lauf following.

When they walk inside the building the servitors have already begun to light incense burners and candles around a stand, "My lord. We may begin." The tech-priest says humbly as the servitors roll up around Lauf. He holds his arms out and lets the cyborgs begin to speak the prayers for the rite of maintenance while removing his armour piece by piece and setting it on the armour stand in the centre of the candles and burners.

Within a few minutes Lauf is stripped of his armour leaving him in a simple loincloth as the tech-priest begins reciting verses of Machine Cult scripture while the servitors circle the power armour. After a few minutes of verses the servitors begin to work on pieces of the armour letting Lauf sit and watch the rites be performed. The tech-priest calls on his armour's machine spirit to accept these gifts of oils and repair tools to repair its broken body to its pristine condition.

Every few minutes the priest stops his repair work to continue saying verses and other prayers to the machine spirit in the armour and the machine god. These stops slow down the actual repair and maintenance operations as the servitors stop their work every time the tech-priest starts his chants. Lauf growls slightly but otherwise stays quiet. The Adeptus Mechanicus' religious ceremonies and devotion to these frustrating pauses to chant prayers is aggravating to the Bloodclaw, but their technical expertise is vital to the Imperium as a whole. And important to his hunt. So he holds his tongue and lets the tech-priest continue his service by sitting down on what seems to be an empty crate and watches.

As the ceremony continues the armour begins to lose all the damage and long-term wear that it has suffered over the past twenty years of his hunt. As the damage is removed the quality the Iron Priests put into their work begins to show as clearly as the snow on top of Fenris' highest peaks. Lauf's armour is an ancient suit that had been in the Aett's armouries for millennia before Lauf was even born. It was one of the gifts the Great Wolf had allowed him to take on his hunt for revenge and redemption. When Lauf had chosen the armour set to hunt down Ramses the Rune Priests had added special runes on various parts of the armour. This transformed the power armour into one of the unique Runic Armour sets of his chapters. These runes grant Lauf protection from the foul powers of Chaos that he would face in his hunt. The runes on the breastplate and abdomen armour serve to deflect the majority of psychic abilities, or at least reduce the effects of hostile powers used by the sorcerer and his minions, the gifts granted to them by the Chaos God Tzeentch. The runes on the legs spell out the Fenrisian words for 'good health' and the rejection of disease. These runes are meant to stop the diseases used by Nurgle's servants and are the main reason why Lauf has been able to get close to the walking pestilent bags without succumbing to the terrible illnesses the Chaos God of decay had bestowed on them. On the gauntlets there are runes meant to bring out the cold winds of Fenris to his enemies and weakens the fires of Khorne's daemons. The last runes are carved onto the bare right shoulder pad where Lauf's pack emblem had been before their run in with Ramses. The runes are in the place where the emblem had been scrapped off and read 'pain does not bring joy'. These runes are for stopping the followers of Slaanesh from enjoying any sensation from fighting Lauf. All these runes help Lauf against the followers of Chaos, but they are nowhere nearly as powerful as the tools used by the Daemon-hunters of the Ordo Malleus in their fight against Chaos.

The second benefit of the runes on his armour for Lauf is that they help remind him that wherever he is, the rest of the Vlka Fenryka will be with him. And no matter what, he is never alone even with his pack gone. As the tech-priest stops again to chant prayers of maintenance there is a slight tap against Lauf's chest. Looking down he sees the totem hanging from a leather string made out of mammoth hide around his neck. Scooping the totem up and lets it rest in his palm he examines it closely. The totem is in the shape of a wolf from Fenris and in runes there are the names of each of his fallen pack-mates carved across the body of the wolf. He feels a mix of sadness and anger as he reads the names and their faces come back from the deepest wells of his memory. He keeps looking at the totem while the tech-priest continues praying to the Machine God.

 _It will be over soon brothers. Either I will avenge you and bring your souls to rest. Or I will join you soon._ Lauf thinks as he runs his thumb over the totem and thinks the eyes of the wolf seem to glow from his touch and come a bit to life as he thinks about his pack-mates. Shaking his head and blinking his eyes a couple times he looks back at the totem. It looks alright and unchanged.

 _Must have just been exhaustion and my imagination_. Lauf calms himself after the strange change in the totem. Letting it rest back against his chest he looks back at the stand with his armour. The tech-priest steps back with his servitors as he bows to the fully repaired and restored armour. The symbols and runes on the armour seem to glow brighter than Lauf has ever seen it shine since he took it from the Great Wolf's armoury. But even with the runes carved by the Rune Priests Lauf knows they only weaken the powers of Chaos when he fights their minions. To truly destroy them it will still depend on his sword and axe. The two weapons rest by the armour stand and unlike the armour both weapons are still in the same condition as when he first took them. The care he has taken with looking after them has kept both in exceptional quality. He swore that when it comes time to kill Ramses for all the death he has inflicted, he would not allow his weapons to fail him or his fallen pack-mates by blunting or breaking on his armour,

"My lord. The machine spirit of your armour has been pacified and pleased with the rites of repair I have undertaken." Lauf has been shaken out of his thoughts by the tech-priest standing in front of him with his servitors on either side of him. He nods in thanks to the tech-priest for all the work he has done for the Space Wolf. The servitors take the pieces of the power armour off the stand and bring it over to Lauf as he stands up and extends his arms out. The servitors begin to reattach the armour onto Lauf starting with his chest-plate. As the pieces of the armour make contact with his body, the black carapace implant underneath his skin begins to attach to the pieces, becoming a second skin. As each piece is put on, there is a hiss of gas as the ends of each piece lock into place with each other and on Lauf's body. Slowly the feel of hardened flesh is replaced with ceramite, platsteel and adamantium plates. He keeps his eyes closed as the servitors continue with their duties. The hissing sounds finally begin to slow down as the last bits of the armour are attached. The last thing to go onto Lauf's body is his backpack with his armour's cooling system and the compartment containing furs he had collected before leaving Fenris. Opening his eyes Lauf rolls his shoulders to check his armour's integration with the black carapace. Smiling as he cannot feel the armour on his body. It is his body now, completely integrated.

He looks at the tech-priest and nods in thanks, "You have made the Omnissiah proud tech-priest. I haven't felt my machine spirit so content in a long time." The tech-priest bows as the servitors beep and whine while they bow under the command of their master as Lauf picks up his weapons and put them on his hips. Giving one last look and grateful smile to the tech-priest Lauf walks out of the building feeling much more relaxed in his armour and lighter on his feet than when he walked inside it. The ground shakes and causes him to lift off it as a giant, armoured mechanical foot comes down a few metres away. Getting his footing back Lauf glances up to see the titan near him. From its size and shape he can immediately tell it is a warlord titan. It takes a moment though for Lauf to determine what sort of warlord it is. To figure it out he looks closer at its weapon systems.

The left arm of the titan has a giant plasma blaster on it. Larger than virtually all other plasma weapons Lauf knows that the destructive power of that cannon is nothing to mock. Above it he notices a pair of large linked cannons surrounded by a rectangular box with slits on either side, _A melta cannon as well?_ Lauf clicks his tongue with respect. So on the left side this titan can handle itself against any armoured forces. On the right side the first thing that draws his eyes is the massive weapon on the arm. Its six barrels and long form stands out against the short, stubby weapons on the left side. Lauf does not need any guide to tell him the power of the Hellstorm cannon. One of the strongest weapons to be mounted on any titan as one salvo from that weapon could obliterate an entire army. Admiring the cannon and impressed by the titan's capabilities, he glances above the large cannon and notices the last main weapon on the right shoulder mount. All the weapons of the titan so far are perfectly designed for large targets/whole armies except for the many point defence weapons across the titan's body. The last weapon on the Warlord Titan is a large Gatling blaster. A weapon designed to shred infantry and even some armoured forces with its giant shells.

All weapons make this titan a well-rounded war machine as Lauf looks at the banner hanging from the Hellstorm. The symbol of the Legio Crucius covers the top quarter of the banner while underneath all the battle-honours and various campaigns the titan has taken part in. They go back from the current millennium all the way back to the period of galactic history known as the Age of Strife. Reading the lists Lauf finally notices the name of the Titan on the bottom of the giant banner in the High Gothic letters of Terra,

"Imperatus Rex. Emperor King." He translates the name with a smirk while the titan moves towards the storage bay as fast as those war machines can move. Lauf glances around and he notices the surprising lack of tech-priests worshiping the movement of the Titan. Maybe he can get a chance to actually speak with a Princeps of one of these incredible machines. As Imperatus Rex moves to its bay inside the building, Lauf walks inside after the titan. As soon as he steps onto the floor of the bay, the shockwaves from the titan's steps stop. Lauf watches as the Warlord Titan turns around in front of its bay and then backs inside it. When the titan gets into place, large clamps on the wall of the building wheeze to life as steam comes out of the clamp's sides while they close around the back of Imperatus Rex. There is some more noises coming from the titan's body as lights coming from the 'head' and body begin to turn off. Lauf watches the titan for any activity while he climbs up a ladder to the catwalk leading beside the door that leads out of the head. When he gets up to the catwalk he starts to walk towards the head when the door slides open. As soon as the door stops opening a pair of men wearing armour and helmets identifying them as moderati. They operate many of the secondary systems necessary for the titan to fight, taking the pressure off the main commander of the titan, the Princeps. Lauf cannot see the Princeps come out with the six moderati and two tech-priests. When they pass by the Space Marine, each person bow their heads in respect to him while he moves on the catwalk to let the eight men and women continue to wherever they rest in between commanding the titan.

As the last member of the titan crew walks past Lauf while he watches them leave the bay, he looks back towards the titan when he sees something he did not expect to see. A young woman, no older than twenty four Terran years walks out of the Titan. She has auburn hair that hangs down to the bottom of her ears that gently swings back and forth with each of her steps. Looking into her eyes Lauf notices the deep amber eyes of this girl. These unique traits are surprising to Lauf, but what makes his eyebrows rise while looking at the girl are the robes she is wearing. The girl has black and white robes with a black gauntlet curled into a fist on top of an Adeptus Mechanicus gear. On top of the gauntlet there is a white T and there are a few mechanical sockets in her neck, hands and one on the back of her head which Lauf cannot see yet. This… child is the titan's princeps. A fact completely unexpected to Lauf as the girl approaches him and curtseys to him,

"My lord Space Marine. Welcome to Ryza," she says with a fine, soft voice that reminds Lauf of a pup greeting an older wolf. Lauf's long red beard, grown down to the bottom of his chest, with the last quarter length tied in three braids. They are kept in place by bone talismans that resemble animist spirits from his homeworld. The braids flutter a bit as Lauf chuckles at his surprise with the Princeps,

"I have to say my lady Princeps. You are not what I expected coming out of this war machine," Lauf comments as the girl looks at him with a quirked eyebrow. She stays silent as Lauf stops smiling while continuing to look at the Princeps, "What I mean Lady Princeps is that I am surprised to see you are so young and trusted to command such a mighty weapon of the Imperium," he explains as the girl seems to understand. Her flat face turns into a smile,

"I admit I am young my lord. But I am a Princeps like every other of the Legio Crucius and I serve the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Imperium to the best of my ability. I have the honour of commanding Imperatus Rex in this capacity and I will proudly serve in this role until I am relieved, or until I die," she says with a great deal of pride in her voice. The pride makes Lauf grin. He is always glad to see other servants of the Imperium take pride in their roles. It reminds him to take pride in his own work, even with his oath of vengeance,

"I am Alexia Strattus my Lord. Forgive me for not introducing myself straight away," Alexia says with a humble bow. Lauf clacks his tongue against his canines and brings his hand under Alexia's chin. He pushes up to make her stand up from her bow. When Alexia stands back up to look at Lauf she can see the Space Wolf is smiling,

"My lady Strattus. You are not some Administratium bureaucrat whose only claim to honour and respect is some position that no one has bothered to reform or remove from the official documents. You are a warrior of the Imperium. Be proud of that," Lauf states as he looks into Alexia's eyes. He can see the fire of strength and defiance within those amber eyes. _This young girl is not some dog that bows and scrapes for superiors or bureaucrats. She is a Wolfess with the fire to stand her ground_. Alexia smiles as the Space Wolf looks over her,

"Believe me my lord. Talk to any of those who knew me growing up. They can tell you about all the times I went and got myself into trouble for standing up and being proud of who I am. And they will no doubt tell you about all the injuries I suffered as a result," Alexia begins to tell Lauf of various events in her youth. Most came from her time growing up in one of the many Schola Progenium scattered through the Imperium. She had gone there after her family had been slaughtered by Dark Eldar and was saved by Adeptus Sororitas Sisters of Battle. Alexia tells Lauf how when in the Schola, she would often get in the way of Drill Abbotts disciplining other students and take their punishment herself. She did this because she could not stand the sight of weaker students being alone and harmed. This defiance resulted in her being beaten almost to death several times. Alexia blushes a bit in embarrassment as she talks about it. She does not know why she wants to tell this Space Wolf about who she is, but she continues her story to Lauf's avid attention.

She continues saying how when she was ten, a Magos Biologis came to the Schola and tested different children. She was one of those tested and at the time, she did not understand the tests she was made to perform. She also did not know when it was happening that she was the only candidate who went through multiple tests. The Magos finally demanded the head-abbott of the Schola to turn Alexia over to him. While there had been arguments, the Abbott relented and Alexia joined Magos Malloc when he left the Schola. She went with the Magos to her new homeworld, Ryza. The way she describes the Forge World when she first arrived makes Lauf laugh. The amazement of seeing the scale of the manufactorums and other buildings on the world on her arrival was still clear even after 14 years living on the planet. Alexia tells about when she was first connected to her titan after several years training in the academy on Ryza. The details she relays to Lauf about how it felt when she linked with the Titan's machine spirit. How it felt like her mind was trying to be torn apart by giant claws and devoured by a massive darkness. Lauf is amazed, both by what Alexia had to do to become a Princeps. And how she can tell the story in such detail that it makes him feel that it is happening to him. When she finishes her story all Lauf can do is look at her and flash a toothy grin,

"Well my lady. It would seem that you have had quite an adventure so far," he says before a thought runs through his mind, "Have you ever faced true combat before?" Now he's curious how much the Princeps feel when they are commanding their titans in battle. His question makes Alexia smile more proudly and stand taller,

"Yes my Lord I have. I fought against the Ork invasion of this world. I destroyed two of the monstrous machines called Gargants with Imperatus." Lauf nods as he keeps smiling at Alexia,

"What does it feel like if your titan is damaged when you are connected?" Alexia describes how it feels like your own body is injured, explaining that when you are connected to the titan, its body becomes your body.

Looking down at his arm, Lauf imagines what is like to be a Princeps when a titan gets hit and possibly loses one of its 'limbs'. If any situations could be classified as phantom limb syndrome that would definitely be it. Moving aside, Lauf lets Alexia lead the way towards the door out of the storage bay.

Walking out of the titan bay, Alexia leans on the rail outside the door while Lauf closes it behind them,

"So my Lord. What are you waiting for on Ryza? Hoping to request supplies being sent back to your chapter?" Alexia asks while Lauf leans on the rail, causing it to bend a bit against his wait,

"No lady Alexia. I am trying to leave this world to continue hunting a traitor. My reasons are personal and it would take far too long to explain why I must do it alone." Lauf explains while he watches the foundry stacks spewing out clouds of industrial smoke. Alexia opens her mouth to speak when a servo-skull flies up to them. Its red light scans each of their faces before a message plays of the Fabricator General,

"My Lord Lauf. I have received your message and I am willing to meet you to arrange transportation off my forge world," the Fabricator General says in the message before a second message plays out as soon as the first one completes, "Lady Alexia. Grand Master Mortalis and I need to speak with you. Come to my tower. Immediately." While the message to Lauf was relatively respectful and diplomatic, the one to Alexia was definitely a command instead of a request. Alexia sighs and smirks at Lauf,

"Well my Lord. I guess you will be leaving here soon," she smiles. "Wherever you go, I hope you succeed in whatever it is you are doing. Guess we should go to the Fabricator General's tower. She doesn't like being held up." Lauf nods with a smile as he gets off the rail and walks with Alexia towards the tower. He understands why he needs to speak with the Fabricator General, _Why does she want to talk with Alexia though?_ He wonders as he walks. Guess all will be revealed in short order.

 **As the** Space Wolf and Princeps make their way to her tower, the Fabricator General of Ryza sits on her throne while mechanical fingers tap the arm rest of the throne. Her world has only recently recovered from the two WAAAGH invasions and its Titan legion is still at greater strength than most legions. But she still needs to fulfill the tithe demands of the Imperium and every extra request stretches the resources the forge world can deploy if any other major disasters come to their section of the Imperium. Now she has received a call for help from a fellow Forge World that Ryza has sent supplies and some of their tech-priests years ago to help other forge worlds relearn the skills with plasma technology. Now this forge world is desperately trying to fight off an Ork invasion. So now the Fabricator General will send one of the titan legion's Warlords to aid this forge world. Its name: Grael Secundus, primary manufacturing world in Sub-Sector Grael to the galactic south-west of Ryza.


	10. Sub-Sector Grael

An intervention attack. That was what the Fabricator General called this when they met her on Ryza. Lauf would get his transport off her world but it had a catch. He had to join Titan Princeps Alexia Strattus travelling to Sub-Sector Grael to counter an Ork WAAAGH invading the Sub-Sector's Forge World, Grael Secundus. According to the Fabricator General, the forces in the Sub-Sector have been unable to hold back the Orks and now Imperatus Rex has to be deployed to crush this WAAAGH and restore Secundus to the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Imperium of Man. The benefit for Lauf going there is that a pict-capture from the Forge World showed a Space Marine with bright blue and yellow armour with a red-eye staff in his hand present on the world. The pict-capture showed the Space Marine moving around some building, ignored by the Orks judging by the images. While at first he was not sure that it was Ramses, when he saw the symbol on his armour he knew it was that Sorcerer. He would never forget that symbol no matter how many years he spent chasing after him. Now he sits inside a storage bay within an Adeptus Mechanicus cruiser carrying Imperatus Rex and its transport giving prayers to the Allfather that his hunt will finally bring peace to his pack-mates' spirits while he looks down at his weapon. Lauf keeps looking at his frost-axe as footsteps come towards him while echoes sound across the storage bay even though he had heard the person coming towards him before the echoes began, "Lord Redclaw. May I sit down with you?"

The voice comes from Princeps Alexia Strattus, the young commander of the titan standing in front of Lauf. He looks up and smiles at her. Nodding he shifts over to give her some more room to sit down on the bench beside him while he continues to rub the side of his axe with an special oil coating a rag. Alexia sits down on the bed with a sigh of relief, "I did not expect your companionship on this battle against the greenskins my lord." Alexia says softly, "It does make me feel more confident about our chances of destroying the enemies of the Omnissiah."

Alexia's statement causes Lauf to pause his cleaning and look at her, "You are the Princeps of a Warlord Titan. How does my presence make you more confident than being inside a war machine like that?" Lauf is confident in his abilities, but even he knows that he is just one Space Marine compared to a Warlord Titan. His surprise makes Alexia laugh softly while he watches and waits for Alexia to stop laughing before she continued. She finally stops laughing and wipes a tear from her eye from how hard she was laughing even though it was quiet,

"Forgive me my lord. I just feel that having a Space Marine, especially one from such a respected chapter as yours will help inspire the guardsmen present in the sub-sector as much, if not more than Imperatus and me." She explains. Her explanation brings a smile to Lauf's face while he finishes taking care of his axe and puts it back on his hip. Afterwards he looks at the titan when he remembers something he wanted to ask Alexia. He turns to look at her while she leans against the wall behind the bench they are sitting on,

"Before we left the Fabricator General was telling you something more than what she said to me." Lauf's smile was replaced by a flat look,

"Is there something the Fabricator General did not want me to hear Princeps? If it's something that could inhibit my mission I want to know." His tone told Alexia that lying right now would be a very bad mistake, even for the Princeps with the protection of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Alexia shakes her head to assure Lauf that it was not something that would impact him,

"No need to make threats my lord Lauf. I was told by the Fabricator General that my first concern is to protect the gifts of the Machine God and tech-priests, not the soldiers and serfs fighting on the planet. She knows of my history of stepping in to protect the weak from danger. She wanted to remind me that as a servant of the Adeptus Mechanicus, I cannot let my feelings get in the way of my duty." Alexia explains as Lauf smiles. Every time he speaks with her he finds himself more impressed by Alexia's attitude and care for the people of the Imperium,

"So will you follow those orders lady Alexia? Fight to defend a bunch of machines and priests instead of those fighting and dying for the world or the people who operate those machines?" Lauf asks, making Alexia's smile grow,

"Oh I will do my duty my lord. As far as I see it to benefit the Imperium of Man. If that means I go to save a bunch of serfs who know how to work on the machines that are probably now smashed to pieces by marauding Orks." Alexia's smile gets bigger as she explains her interpretation of the Fabricator General's orders,

"You know if your lady hears about this she will not be pleased with you." Lauf comments, emphasizing the IF when he says it. Alexia's grin matches Lauf's own as he watches her put a hand over her heart, "So I just make sure that she never finds out." Lauf laughs loudly at her actions before he stands up,

"Very well lady Princeps. I will not tell anyone about it. Especially because my Jarl would use my skin for a banner if I allowed someone who fights for the people, not just the structures of the Imperium to be punished for their actions." The lack of warriors in the Imperium that fight for the common people instead of the structure as a whole beyond a rare few such as his own chapter, the Salamanders, and individuals within the other military forces has always been something which has irked Lauf on his journey across the galaxy. Alexia is perhaps the first Princeps he's met who has such a belief. Then again, the stories she told him about her youth and growing up in the Schola Progenium where she would get in the way of Drill Abbots and Abbesses who were beating other progena harsher than she felt was appropriate to their mistake. So she would take their beatings to the point where she was almost killed by the drill abbots. The only reason why she wasn't was because every time she managed to stand back up. These actions caused her to be sent to the medicae in the Schola to recover from the beatings she took.

Now she is the commander of such a powerful weapon of the Imperium but her concern for the common people has not waned. Lauf has yet to see her in combat, but he has a feeling that this fight will be for the servants of the Sub-Sector against the Orks. Alexia smiles as she continues to sit on the bench and stretches her feet out in front of her. She relaxes while Lauf flexes his jaw before standing up,

"The more I spend time around you young Princeps. The more certain I am that the Fabricator General sent the right Titan to this sub-sector." Lauf looks at Alexia who has closed her eyes but keeps smiling,

"That's exactly why I'm here my lord. Even if the Fabricator General insisted I defend the manufactorums rather than its occupants. She's not a stupid woman, even if her brain is floating in a jar beside her head." Alexia says while she is relaxing. Just then the ship rocks a bit and Alexia sits straight up,

"Sounds like we're leaving the Warp. I better get ready." She gets off the bench and walks towards the ladder leading up to the titan's head,

"My lord. May the Omnissiah watch over you in this fight." She says when she starts to pass Lauf, "Lady Princeps." He turns around and slams one fist against his chest plate, "May the Allfather grant success in your hunt." He says proudly, bringing the smile back to Alexia before she turns around and continues walking towards her titan. Lauf goes over to the drop-pod that will hold him on the trip down to the surface of the world.

Crossing the bay towards his drop-pod, Lauf feels the floor of the ship shake. Outside the Adeptus Mechanicus cruiser carrying the titan and Lauf fully exits the warp on the edge of Grael Secundus' space, heading directly towards an Ork fleet orbiting the planet. These ramshackle greenskin vessels all begin to turn to face this new arrival while the many batteries and unique weapons along the cruiser's hull begin to fire at the longest range they have at the Orks. As the ship puts as much energy as possible to its engines and shields to reach a range over the world to deploy the transport carrying Imperatus Rex and Lauf's drop-pod, more weapons along the hull begin to fire at the Ork ships directly ahead of it to smash a path through to the planet. The weapons of the Mechanicus ship light up the space above Secundus as macro-cannon rounds, Lance fire and torpedoes slam into the Ork Kroozers rushing towards the cruiser, opening fire with all their gunz, despite most being out of range for the weapons to be of any effect against the Mechanicus' ship.

As the fire from the cruiser hits, several of the Kroozers begin to disintegrate, chunks flying into the void along with Ork crew the Kroozers' own gunz come into range and hit the cruiser's void shields. The heavy fire coming from all the Ork vessels quickly knock the shields out and force them to recharge while the cruiser keeps moving in its path towards the planet. Ork ships directly in front of the cruiser's path fully disintegrate, chunks of their heavy armour and other parts of the destroyed vessels fly into surrounding ships. This makes a hole in the Orks' line for the cruiser to rush through even as its hull buckles and bends under the hail of ordinance coming from the greenskins' ships. The ship continues to shake as it passes through the gap and turns up to launch the two down to the planet.

Lauf sits inside the drop-pod while he waits for the feeling of entering zero gravity. As another shaking rolls through him and the drop-pod there is a loud hissing sound followed by the pod flying out of the cruiser. Lauf can see the cruiser with fires coming out of parts of the hull while the transport carrying Imperatus Rex follows behind his pod down into the atmosphere. He watches the pict-display and the cruiser moving away from the Orks and planet to retreat back into the warp in spite of its damage.

The pod begins to shake as it passes through the atmosphere of Secundus. Lauf takes his axe and sword off his hips to get ready for the moment he lands. Looking back up at the pict-image on the wall he can see the surface below him riddled with manufactorums, storage buildings, hab-blocks, and trenches dug into the ground by the guardsmen present on the planet fighting against the Orks. At the moment it is not a tide of greenskins, but the smoke and damage of the buildings on the surface tell Lauf where the fighting has been occurring. As he continues falling towards the ground, explosions erupt across the battle-lines between the guardsmen and Skitarii trying desperately to hold back the Orks. He takes steady, deep breaths as everything begins to slow down. Even with the sounds rushing outside the drop-pod, Lauf can hear his two hearts beat in rhythm in his ears as he begins to enter his battle-preparations. In a practiced sequence, he begins to flex and relax the muscles and joints in his body. Starting with his toes and fingers, Lauf's warming and flexing works their way up his limbs. Popping sounds come from the joints as his muscles loosen and his already enhanced senses become more sensitive for the fight. Rolling his shoulders back and pushing the shoulder-joints as close together as he can before he follows with a roll of his neck Lauf finishes his warm-up by flexing his jaws. His fangs scrape together as the last action of Lauf's preparation. When he opens his eyes, he sees the ground rushing up to him.

A few seconds pass before the pod smashes into the earth. The pod absorbs the vast majority of the impact and the sides fall down a few seconds after landing. As soon as the sides hit the ground the bands holding Lauf up and in his spot come loose, letting him run out. When Lauf comes free of the pod he immediately charges at a group of ten Orks that were busy trying to loot a destroyed chimera. The first Ork that notices Lauf charging towards them starts to shout out a warning. But the Ork does not get more than 'Oi!' before Lauf's axe slices through his neck, sending his head flying through the air with a completely surprised expression. But the shout gets the other Orks to stop their looting and rush off the tank to get into a 'good scrap' with the Space Wolf. Two of the nearest Orks run at Lauf from either side with large choppas held high above their heads. The two get close to Lauf at the same time and swing as hard as they can. Lauf back-swings his axe towards the Ork on his right's choppa, deflecting the weapon when the beard of his axe catches the choppa and pulls it down. The motion pulls him away from the second Ork's strike, causing him to bury his choppa into the ground while the first does not get long to try and regain control of his axe when Lauf drives his sword into his head. Cutting through the head at eye level Lauf quickly spins around and buries his frost-axe down into the chest of the second Ork as he tries to pull his choppa out of the ground. The power blade of the Frost-axe cuts through without any real resistance as Lauf continues the swing until it comes out the other side of its body.

As the second Ork falls to the ground in two pieces another Ork slams into Lauf's side, knocking him to the ground, causing him to lose the grip on his sword. Lauf looks up at the Ork who laughs as he brings his choppa down towards Lauf's head. The clang of the Choppa meeting Frost-axe stops it from splitting his skull in two. Lauf grits his teeth as he keeps the Choppa away while the Ork grips the haft of his choppa with both hands, slowly pushing it closer to Lauf's forehead. While he holds back the choppa as best he can, Lauf's free hand reaches around desperately trying to find the hilt of his sword. The Ork grins as his choppa comes within an inch of Lauf's forehead,

" 'e 'e 'e. Da Warboss'll be pleazed when he sees I brung your 'ead to 'im Space Marine. This is the end." The Ork chortles in their guttural language as Lauf growls,

"Yes. But it's for you!" The next second Lauf swings what he managed to grab into the side of the Ork's face, smashing the back of a fallen choppa there, loosening several of his teef free and forcing him back a few feet. As the Ork stumbles back with blood coming out of his mouth Lauf jumps back to his feet and lunges forward, swinging his axe across the Ork's stomach. An eating squig falls out of the open wound still alive and flops around on the pile of blood and bile coming from the Ork as he falls to the ground,

"Well. T'at shouldn't be coming out…." He comments right before Lauf slams the Choppa he had grabbed into its head. Lauf watches the Ork fall to the ground dead as the six remaining Orks keep come towards him. He quickly grabs another Choppa and throws it horizontally at the next closest Ork. The Choppa hits its target in the neck right up to the middle of the spine. The Ork coughs blood before it falls back to the ground while Lauf runs over and grabs his frost-sword from where it fell after he hit the ground.

Lauf looks at the remaining five Orks who are a bit shocked by the death of their fellows in such short order. Lauf growls and bares his fangs while advancing towards the Greenskins. The Orks start to turn to retreat, only to suddenly fall to the ground when a hail of las-fire comes out of one of the buildings. The las-fire kills each of the Orks, leaving Lauf alone in the opening. He looks at the building as he spots where the guardsmen were firing from when he feels the ground shake underneath his feet. He turns to see where that shaking came from when he sees a bright beam in the sky above him heading towards the Ork main line. The beam lasts for only a second but he follows the line to see where it came from. He smiles when he sees Imperatus Rex in the distance. The titan's weapons all have steam rising from their barrels. Lauf watches as the gatling blaster moves and fires at some target. He can see the light flashing from the barrels, but the sounds of battle all around him muffles the titan's massive sounds. While he admires the titan's firepower, the guardsmen that helped him come out of their position. They look from the titan to the Space Wolf,

"See lads. I told you the God-Emperor is watching out for us here. Not only do we now have a titan. We also have one of the Space Wolves with us!" A corporal says as he drops to one knee in front of Lauf, followed by ten privates,

"My lord. You saved us from these creatures." The corporal states as Lauf motions with his head,

"Rise guardsmen. You saved yourselves." From their armour, they seem to be Cadians. But given that many worlds in the Imperium use equipment and uniforms like regiments from Cadia these troops could be from one of those worlds, "Your armour looks like it's from Cadia. But I wish to know. What world is your home?" He asks as the guardsmen stand up and gather around him, amazed at his appearance. Given how few Space Marines there are in the galaxy relatively speaking he figures this must be the first time they've seen one,

"We are proud members of the Kormrag defenders." The corporal explains, beaming as he identifies their homeworld. Lauf had heard of this fortress world, _So at least these are not incompetent soldiers._ Lauf thinks as the corporal waits for him to say anything,

"Well Corporal. I am glad you have come to a world where your skills are well suited. Now what can you tell me about this Ork invasion? And where your commanding officer is?" Lauf looks around at the smoke rising from destroyed buildings and vehicles,

"From what I've seen my lord. The Orks are going after the manufactorum primaris on the planet. I think they're going to try and loot the machines being built by the servitors in the manufactorum." Just like the Orks to simply steal and break sacred war engines of the Imperium Lauf thinks to himself,

"I imagine chimeras and leman russ tanks?" Lauf clicks his tongue against his fangs while looking towards one of the manufactorums where fighting is occurring outside the giant gate. He expects simple vehicles to be made on this world that will be taken by the Orks to mangle by their custom of adding bits of scrap metal and other bits of junk and call it 'armour' or 'banners'. When Lauf looks back at the corporal, the look on his face makes the young bloodclaw frown,

"Actually my lord. I believe the manufactorum primaris makes Macharius Heavy Tanks." When the words leave the corporal's mouth, Lauf's blood has already cooled. His head snaps in the direction of the manufactorum currently too far from the battle line to be directly in danger of the Orks. But he can see that the Orks are pushing towards it as the corporal explained,

"We need to find your commander guardsmen. And stop these greenskins from seizing the manufactorums. Every one they take gives them more firepower and more chances to desecrate the machine god's tools. At least that's what the tech-priests would complain about." He says quickly as another beam comes from the Hellstorm cannon on Imperatus Rex to smash into the Ork horde,

"Hey boys! You want to let a giant walker kill more greenskins than us?" The corporal shouts to cheers and snaps of 'NO!' from the other guardsmen as Lauf smiles and starts running towards the fighting with the guardsmen right behind him. They move through the rubble of a destroyed hab-block, coming out of a third-floor hab-unit to see a series of trenches below them. The trenches run underneath another hab-block towards the battle-zone. The perfect highway to get back to the guardsmen's lines. As Lauf leads the way down to the trenches, they can see the aftermath of the fighting in this area. Ork, grot, and human bodies are scattered around the trench along with broken weapons and destroyed vehicles from both sides. No doubt the Orks were too busy continuing to fight to loot and plunder these war materials so that's why these things remain. Lauf jumps into the trench, landing on top of a dead Ork followed by the guardsmen.

He stops for a moment to see if they are the only ones present, listening and sniffing. Just when Lauf thinks they are alone a box hitting the ground draws his attention to further down the trench where a group of gretchins are searching through a stack of empty ammunition boxes for something to fight with to replace the rusted pieces of metal they are holding. Lauf grins as he stands up and taps his axe against the wall of the trench. The gretchins all look at him and stare in shock,

"Space Mar…" The gretchin shouting gets cut off when the corporal shoots it through the head while the other guardsmen fire their lasguns, killing most of the gretchins while four start running towards them. The guardsmen fire again, dropping the tiny greenskins. Not much of a fight, but they were quick with their trigger fingers and stayed calm even with the surprise encounter. Lauf smiles as he motions with his hand. The guardsmen stand and they all run down the trench, continuing to head towards the previous known guardsmen positions.

 **When** Lauf comes to a narrow section of trench after several minutes of running, he sniffs the air for the strongest scents of humans and las-fire while above the position he can see a giant plasma round fly through the air to hit some target the Warlord Titan is aiming at. Lauf stops for a second to wonder how much damage that machine has caused in such a short time.

"My lord. We need to keep moving." The corporal says when he comes up beside Lauf. Just as he goes to answer a new scent fills Lauf's nostrils and he gets ready to fight. The corporal is unable to ask what Lauf smelled when a shoota round hits him in the chest, throwing him into the wall of the trench, splattering blood all across it. Lauf spins to face the origin of the shell and sees an Ork Kommando laughing as he clutches his personal shoota.

Lauf curses under his breath. Why had he not detected the Kommando hiding there? His attention quickly turns to the other side of the trench where more Kommandos burst out of their hiding places, opening fire with their own shootas. Their fire is as always with Orks haphazard and not very accurate, giving the guardsmen with him a chance to return fire with their lasguns. But very quickly the Orks start to move into the trench to fight up close with their blades. But that is where Lauf excelled as he charged the first two Kommandos to jump in with them. He smashes one against the side of the trench, following that with a quick stab to the heart from his sword while blocking the other Ork's blade with his axe. As the first Kommando slumps to the ground Lauf turns and bisects the second at the waist with a single clean slash. This Kommando falls to the ground a bit confused about why he felt lighter right before the blood loss caused the Ork to die. Lauf pulls his axe away from the body and turns just in time to see two guardsmen fall from another Kommando who had come from behind their position. The remaining guardsmen turn their lasguns on the Kommando but as they do, more Kommandos leap into the trench and cut through their flimsy flak armour. Blood splatters across the ground as the guardsmen fall leaving Lauf alone with the Orks. As he glares at the greenskins, a realization strikes him when he gets a good whiff of the Orks' scent. They are smeared in the smell of gunpowder, exactly like the rest of the battlefield. He cannot believe he was so stupid to not realize it sooner. Focusing on the scents, he can finally detect the difference between the Kommandos' false scent and the actual ground.

Smiling when one Kommando drops several smoke grenades stolen from one of the armouries on this world, Lauf does not worry. Now that he has their scents, he does not need his eyes. One Kommando comes right at him thinking he is blind and thus unable to fight back in time. Unfortunately for the Ork Lauf smells him as he rushed through the smoke and quickly shows the Kommando the error of his ways when he deflects his strike and cuts across the chest, deep enough to split the spine and open its chest. The Kommando falls with a thud while another comes at him from the side. Again the Ork thinks that Lauf is blind and it was simple luck that he was able to kill the first Kommando to attack him. He does not have time to regret under-estimating the Space Wolf as Lauf's axe cleaves him in two when he gets in range. Using just his nose, Lauf runs towards the next Kommando who was busy calling out to the two that tried to kill him already. That Kommando has only a short second to react before he is cut down like the other Orks. Lauf sniffs the air and throws his axe to the left. The sound of it hitting flesh followed by a gurgling scream tells him that his axe hit its target as another Kommando wanders close enough for Lauf to see that his axe has gotten stuck in its chest. But the Ork is still alive, a tribute to their resilient forms. The Ork looks down at the axe in his chest and smiles. He thinks it's a nice trophy to have and starts to reach down to pull it out,

"I don't think so." Lauf growls as he punches the Kommando in the lower jaw as hard as he can. The strike dislocates it, making it appear even more confused or brain-dead than they normally are. He makes the Ork's reality match the appearance when he cuts its head off in a quick follow-up to the punch. As the head rolls on the ground, the smoke clears, revealing Lauf to be the only being still standing in this part of the trench. Pulling his axe out of the Kommando's chest he goes over to the guardsmen to see if any are still alive. His hope is dashed very quickly as he finds each one was killed almost instantly by the Orks' attacks. He frowns as he carefully adjusts the guardsmen's bodies just to give them a bit of respect for fighting as they have. When he is done he bows his head and says a quick prayer to the Allfather. Hoping their souls have been granted access to the halls of the dead by the two-headed giant wolf guardian Morkai. He is brought back to the situation surrounding him when Imperatus Rex fires its hellstorm cannon at another target among the Ork horde. Lauf stands up and looks in the direction of the Manufactorum Primaris. It does not have any smoke rising from it. So far so good. The guard are still holding them back from that at least. He returns to running down the trench towards the battle-line. When he reaches there he will come up behind the Orks in the perfect position to attack them. As he runs through the trench he can hear shootas and lasguns fire grow louder with each step he takes towards the battle. The sounds make him well aware of how hard pressed the guardsmen must be by the volume of fire he can hear coming in the direction of the fighting. Running through a broken cargo container, Lauf climbs up to the other side and looks out. He can finally see the battle line where the guardsmen do everything in their power to keep the Orks from getting in close with their choppas and other weapons. In most parts he can see what must be bodies piled as a makeshift defence by the humans against the Orks. Lauf sees how now more than ever he needs to get there to assist the guard in defending this world so he quickly jumps out of the container down to land on the ground and takes off again at a run towards their lines.

 **Running** past a former strong point where more human and Ork bodies alike lay around a heavy bolter. Jumping over the position Lauf keeps running as he can smell the scents of blood and gunpowder growing more prominent along with other human smells getting stronger as he picks up his pace to get to the guardsmen. Passing around a wrecked Chimera Lauf stops when he sees a very large Nob with around twenty Orks around him trying to get a broken Leman Russ working. Lauf growls and charges at the Orks. Two turn around and shout out 'Space Marine!' Alerting all the other Orks to the chance of a good fight. Lauf swings his sword and axe, cutting the first Ork in three, at the neck and the waist. Twisting his hand he back-hands the second Ork with his axe cutting diagonally down its body right before it swung its choppa at him. When more Orks charge at him, he also cuts them down quickly, but after the fifth Ork dies he gets caught from behind by another Ork sneaking up behind him cutting across his back with a blade. His armour takes the strike, but it does knock him forward to another Ork swinging his own choppa. Lauf just manages to duck underneath the swing and returns with an uppercut with his axe, dropping the Ork. Looking around Lauf sees that the Orks have encircled him with the Nob approaching. On one hand he has a large power-klaw wheezing and hissing as all Ork contraptions do. In the other he has a large kustom shoota on his arm. Lauf grips his weapons tightly,

"Well come on Greenskins. I don't have all day. And you're in my way." Lauf says with a bored expression as the Orks all laugh as they begin to move closer to the Space Wolf.

Lauf braces himself as two Orks charge at him when suddenly one of the Orks in the circle is riddled with a burst of bolter rounds. The boy falls to the ground when two others drop with bolter rounds through the head, _A heavy bolter?_ Lauf quickly spins around and cuts off one Ork's head as more bolter fire hits the Orks in the circle as they try to figure out where it is coming from. From the bursts of fire and Lauf's frost-weapons, soon only the Nob is left and he is mad as he glares at Lauf,

"I don't know w'at yor plan is Space Marine. But I'm gonna….." He gets cut off by a bolter round ripping through his neck. The Nob coughs up blood as he rushes up to grab his neck with his power klaw. Moving too quickly with the sharp blades of the klaw and clamps it down on the wound. Lauf shakes his head as the Nob's head rolls away from his body after the power klaw decapitated himself. Lauf turns when he hears a shout of frustration,

"No fair! You said I could shoot the big one!" A voice brings Lauf's eyes up to the top of the trench. Up there he can see three members fo the Adeptus Sororitas, the Sisters of Battle. Two of them have bolters in their hands while the third is carrying a heavy bolter. The heavy bolter carrying Sister is the one complaining to the one of those with a bolter that is looking at her,

"I did let you shoot more of the greenskins than others. Besides, the Space Marine there was going to decapitate the Nob. You wouldn't have been happy then would you?" She comments as the heavy-bolter one sighs,

"Yeah…. Good point." All the Sisters climb into the trench and stand in front of Lauf,

"What's a Space Wolf doing alone on this world?" The bolter-carrying Sister who had been calming the heavy-bolter one asks. Lauf looks at the three. Like most of his chapter he does not trust the servants of the Ecclesiarchy, but so far these Sisters have not shot him. Just as he's about to say what he was doing, the other Sister with a bolter steps closer and looks at him,

"Is it….. you?" The Sister attaches her bolter to her hip and pulls off her helmet. Dark-blonde hair cut to the bottom of her ears and pale skin stands out against yellowish-green eyes, "Wolf?" Lauf smiles as he finally recognizes the scent of the woman in front of him,

"I'm glad to see you have survived this long Astra." Lauf says as Astra hugs his waist, "You saved me back then. Sisters. This is Lord Lauf Redclaw. The Space Wolf I told you about." Astra says, letting go of Lauf and looking at the two other sisters,

"Well. If everything Astra told us about you my lord. I think our chances of beating back these Orks just went up." The other bolter Sister comments as she takes her own helmet off. Her hair is as white as snow and flows out of the back of her head in a hime cut that was held up inside her helmet. The white hair contrasts with her green eyes that stand out against her white skin. Underneath her left eye she has a tattoo of a fleur-de-lis and bell,

"Come on Cassidy. Let the lord see your face. Don't be the one standing out." The last Sister begins to remove her own helmet after she put her heavy bolter down. When the helmet is finally off Lauf can see that aside from her weapon, this Sister is unique from the other two. Her skin identifies her as coming from Chorgris, the White Scars' homeworld. Her black hair is tied back in a ponytail and off to one side of her head. On the front of her face Lauf's eyes are drawn to a long scar running from the middle of her eyebrow downs to the left side of her mouth. Whatever caused that scar cut deep enough to destroy Cassidy's eye as her left eye has been replaced with a bionic piece. Her other eye is silver-brown and looks at Lauf's weapons with a small smirk on her mouth,

"Well considering what his weapons did to these greenskins. I'd say he can handle himself quite well Astra." She says to the older Sister while the white-haired Sister looks at the other two,

"We need to get back to the frontline sisters. My lord. Would you be willing to join us?" Lauf looks at her,

"First. What is your name?" She smiles as she looks at him, "My name's Ashe my lord." Lauf grins when Ashe gives her name,

"Well Ashe. Cassidy. Astra. I will show you the fury of a Vlka Fenryka against these greenskins." He says as they all start running towards the sounds of battle. Lauf does not know why as he looks back at the Sisters running behind him, but he feels an urge to fight to protect them. Perhaps it is because he is glad to see Astra go from the young girl he met on Solomn to this warrior of the Emperor. But right now he is running to battle not just for getting to his revenge, but to protect others he knows.


	11. Manufactorum Primaris

Standing proudly as a temple to the Omnissiah and a vital manufacturing centre on Grael Secundus, Manufactorum Primaris is the first and largest of its kind on the forge world. A fact the tech-priests of Secundus are quite proud of and will do whatever they can to defend this manufactorum. Inside the manufactorum, thousands of servitors and mechanicus serfs work on production lines producing Chimeras, Leman Russ tanks and several lines are producing Macharius heavy tanks. These large tanks are built inside the manufactorum and immediately are driven out by Imperial guardsmen right to the frontlines against the Orks. Some of the longer range tanks fire their guns the first time against the Greenskins before they've even left the inside of the manufactorum. On the front of the manufactorum, automatic and guardsmen manned defensive turrets create a 'light-show' of las-fire and bolter rounds at the Orks shooting from the wreckage of trenches and hab-buildings that the guardsmen had been manning before being pushed back by the xenos. While the Orks seem to keep coming, their bodies pile up in front of the current Imperial defensive positions as shell casings and spent energy batteries fill up the trenches around the guardsmen's feet while above it all, Imperatus Rex fires all its main weapons at main sections of the Ork army while the point defence lasers shoot down missiles and deffkoptas that come at it.

As one position comes under attack by more Orks, the guardsmen present desperately try to hold back the tide of greenskins rushing them. The heavy bolter present keeps firing non-stop until a clicking sound signals a jammed round to the utter horror of the guardsmen. The one on the bolter just manages to open the breech and gets the jammed round out before an Ork choppa splits his skull and other Ork weapons kill his friends. The Orks cheer their small victory over the hummies as one starts to reach for the heavy bolter when his arm suddenly falls to the ground. The Ork looks at the stump where his arm was but does not have much chance to contemplate what happened when a bolter round tears through his skull. The other Orks look as Lauf leaps into the position, cutting into the next Ork near him with his frost axe while the Sister of Battle Astra fires her bolter at the Ork near him. When another Ork tries to fire his shoota at them, the younger Sister Ashe shoots that Ork in the chest with her own bolter. Their calm and collected demeanors as they kill the xenos is quite different from the happily laughing heavy bolter firing Cassidy, happily shooting three Orks in quick succession in a large burst of bolter shells. The four clear the defensive position of the attacking Orks in a short order as Lauf checks the bodies to see if any of them are still alive,

"None of them could have survived this attack Wolf." Astra says sadly as Lauf gives the soldiers a final honour by folding their hands on their chest as a quick sign of respect before he stands up. He looks at the Sisters of Battle who start firing at the Orks to either side of their position,

"Do you know where the commander of the guard or your canoness is located?" Lauf looks at Astra and Ashe. The two seem to be the most likely to have the best understanding of the battlefield, despite the age difference between Astra and the younger Ashe. Glancing at Cassidy he notices how happy she is at blasting Orks away with her heavy bolter. She reminds him of himself a little when he was with his pack-mates, howling happily as he charged at the enemies of the Imperium. Right now her fire keeps the area completely clear of any living Orks while Ashe and Astra hop into the trench with him, looking around for any sign of these two leaders. Astra glances at Ashe as they each one direction of the trench,

"What do you think Ashe? Will she be over near the central point or by the front doors of the manufactorum?" Astra has to stop in the middle of her questions when the hellstorm cannon on Imperatus Rex fires above them. The sound was so loud that they could not hear themselves talk as the beam echoes overhead and turns hundreds more Orks into empty matter, burning away their bodies completely and preventing their spores from being released. Ashe pokes her head up over the back of the trench and looks out at the Imperial positions that are visible from their spot. She just manages to spot their canoness before she is pulled down from the trench by Lauf when a burst of bolter fire tears up the ground in front of where her head had been second before,

"I saw the Canoness! She's over by the centre-right section of that line leading our Sisters against the Greenskins!" Ashe exclaims as Astra nods, "Ok. We go down this side of the trench and we should be able to go in a straight line towards their position." "That is unless there are some greenskins trying to get in our way and I have to kill them." Cassidy says trying to hide her excitement at the prospect and failing. Lauf nods as he moves in front of the Sisters down the trench. His large frame serves as a good shield for them from anything coming down the trench towards their location while they can still shoot from either side of his body. He runs down the trench, keeping low to avoid attracting the Orks attention. Not because he is afraid of the dumb xenos. He does not want to bring a bunch of Orks towards him which would be followed shortly afterwards by Imperial fire turning the location where he, the Sisters and the Orks were standing into a pile of smoking dirt. As he moves low in the trench, he sees the many turrets firing from the defensive positions and the piles of Ork bodies forming another wall a few dozen metres from the Imperial trench that the still living Ork horde try to clamber up to attack the humans or rush through the holes made by large explosive shells fired either from the many tanks rolling out of the Manufactorum or from the basilisk artillery on the top of the factory's roof that are firing like mortars, the shells flying almost straight up before landing in front of the Imperial forces.

But fortunately for the guardsmen every Ork that pops his head over the top of this wall of bodies or runs through the small gaps in the wall gets cut down by the concentrated firepower of their positions. The Imperials thank the God-Emperor for the constant resupply of ammunition directly from the buildings behind them. This has allowed them to keep up this wall of lead and lasers that holds back the massive Ork WAAGH from breaching the walls of Manufactorum Primaris. Lauf finally gets past the piles of greenskin bodies and lets the guardsmen manning the line see they are friends as they move towards them. Many guardsmen cheer at the sight of some more Sisters of Battle and a Space Marine with them. Alexia's comment to him about his presence encouraging the guardsmen is clear when the soldiers return to firing at the Orks with an increased vigour they did not have a moment ago. It is clear that the soldiers do not want to appear wanting in the face of one of the legendary warriors of the Emperor's own blood. One Ork charge down the trench behind them, but a combined burst from the three sisters bring it down before Lauf can attack, but he gets a chance when another Ork tries to attack from above. Lauf catches the choppa before it hits Ashe in the head and twists it aside. As the Ork falls after his choppa he can only shout in surprise as Lauf's sword comes point first up at his head, driving through it with ease, leaving the body hanging like a dead-weight on the blade before Lauf lets the Ork slide off into the trench when he pulls it out of the wound. Lauf watches the path they came down as the three Sisters run by him into the Imperial frontline and he quickly jumps over the sandbags where five guardsmen lie against the wall with their lasguns aimed down the trench,

"Welcome to our joyous world my lord." One guardsmen jokes, only to get smacked in the back of the head by another guardsman who points out that the trooper should show deference and respect to Lauf and the Sisters. Lauf chuckles a little at the joke as he sees more Orks rush down the trench right where they had been. The five guardsmen fire their las-guns in concentrated volleys down the trench, shooting down the Orks that try to get towards them. Lauf looks back at Ashe,

"You saw the canoness Ashe? Show us the way." He motions with his axe-hand and Ashe smiles before she starts moving along the trench, with Astra, Cassidy and Lauf behind her. Moving behind the guardsmen positions, Lauf smells the exhaustion coming out of the guardsmen's very pores as sweat and other fluids coat some of their bodies. But despite their exhaustion, desperation, fear and worry, they stand their ground against the greenskins. Lauf can see each soldier is remaining at their positions, not because of the fear of a commissar's las-pistol but thanks to their faith in the Emperor and because of the presence of the Mechanicus, Sororitas and Astartes with them. Ashe moves ahead as she spots the Canoness standing tall and shouting orders out to her fellow Sisters firing their bolters and flame weapons against the Orks coming towards them as well as they charge the guardsmen. The Canoness gives another order to her Sisters when she notices Ashe and the others approach,

"Celestian Ashe. Where did you go? You were supposed to reinforce the guardsmen at guard point gammarus with Retributor Cassidy and Sister Astra." The canoness says sharply before looking at the other two Sisters that come up behind Ashe waiting for an answer from any of them. She looks from the three up to Lauf who stands behind them and pulls back a step in shock, but quickly regains her composure and points her bolter-pistol at him, causing Lauf to bring his weapons up ready to fight,

"What are you doing here savage?!" She demands as Lauf growls at her, "Fighting to defend the people of this world, zealot." He responds as the Canoness keeps holding her pistol at him, "Lower your weapon, or the next events will be something you will regret." Lauf's stance prepares him to move forward to charge, or back to get out of the Canoness' bolter fire. The situation looks ready to explode when Astra gently sets her hand on her Canoness' arm,

"Canoness. This Space Marine is here to help us. And right now, we can't afford to turn away any help." Astra comments as she looks from the Canoness to Lauf, who still keeps his weapons up in case the Canoness tries to shoot him in this moment of peace talk,

"Wolf. I need you to trust me here. This is not the time or place to fight each other. We have a much bigger threat." She motions towards the Orks that have pulled back from their constant direct charges, but continue shooting from their positions in the buildings, making a big firefight between them and the guardsmen. But the Orks' desire for loud noises and explosions shows as most of their firing flies wildly around the guardsmen. Only a few shots from each Ork position gets close enough to make the humans seek cover while the guards' weapons concentrate their fire on the buildings. Lauf looks back from watching the guardsmen fight to the Canoness before he lowers his axe and sword while the Canoness cautiously lowers her bolter,

"Very well. The greenskins are a more serious threat than your zealous madness. Which considering that you have not burned all these good warriors because they do not share your insanity of faith means you also can see that this is a more important issue." Even as he shows signs of offering peace, Lauf still shows his contempt for the Adeptus Sororitas as Astra keeps the Canoness from raising her arm while Celestian Ashe looks between the two,

"My lord. Canoness. We need to speak with the Colonel of the guard and plan out a better defence to protect the manufactorum." Ashe points out. The Canoness nods to her point as she holsters her weapon and motions for all of them to follow her. Lauf walks behind Astra, Cassidy and Ashe as they walk after the Canoness as she walks down the trench towards the guard command post. As they pass by some guardsmen carrying wounded soldiers on stretches, Imperatus Rex's weapons fire, again drowning out all other noises on the battlefield. Lauf rubs his ear to shake the small ringing he got from not being ready for the sound when they finally reach the command post as the Canoness enters with Lauf while the three Sisters wait outside the post. Inside Lauf sees the Colonel discussing his plans with some other guard officers,

"I want the tenth company on the top of the building directing the artillery. I have no intention of giving those green bastards any chance to catch their breath. And I want those guns to flatten any and all things that try to come within the perimeter." "Yes sir!" One young captain salutes before he runs out past the group as they approach the Colonel's table,

"Colonel Miketor. I have some news for you." Colonel Miketor looks up from his table and stares at the people in front of him. The Canoness who had been a great help with her Sisters to fight back against the Orks and…. A Space Marine,

"By the Emperor! My lord welcome to Grael Secundus!" Colonel Miketor says respectfully to Lauf who nods back to the Colonel before he looks back at the Canoness,

"Canoness Saroya. I was hoping to speak with you. I am preparing a counter-attack to drive the Orks away from the manufactorum." He says confidently while resting his hands on the table. Lauf can see the Colonel has several data-slates and a map of this area of the planet. Canoness Saroya crosses her arms as she looks at Miketor,

"Are you so confident that this is the wisest course of action Colonel? Your men are exhausted from constant battle. And the Orks have not retreated for a simple reason." Lauf speaks up before Saroya could say what she was thinking while Colonel Miketor looks at Lauf,

"My lord. I have no interest in just sitting and waiting for them to come back and attack my positions. I am going to punch them right in the mouth and not give them a chance to organize any sort of defense." Miketor does not lack for confidence by the way he speaks with certainty about his plan. Lauf is unconvinced and from her look, Saroya is not either,

"Colonel. The xenos have pulled back for a reason. They are not running. It was too well organized. Especially for the Orks. There is a strategy here and I have a bad feeling that we would be better preparing for another assault by them." Saroya states as she remains with her arms folded across her chest, "My Sisters can go ahead and start attacking. But your guardsmen should continue manning their positions. It would keep your forces in a strong location. And will keep them out of our way when we bring holy fire to the xenos staining this world." Obviously the Colonel and the Canoness are still able to butt heads even with a common problem in front of them. The Colonle looks about to argue, but Lauf's fist slamming into the table stops him and makes both leaders look at the Space Wolf,

"You two are arguing like a pair of angry pups! There is an army of Orks out there and you two are bickering here about what to do about it! You are both leaders of soldiers and their lives are currently being entrusted to you. But from what I am seeing neither of you is fit to lead a servitor latrine detail!" Lauf barks. He was young by Space Marine standards, but he had already lived longer than either this Colonel or Canoness had and he had the experiences of such a life,

"The Orks have pulled back to do something. The ones lying in front of your trenches are Goffs. I saw Blood Axes and other Ork tribes present when I came down. Their Warboss is clearly no fool. He must have realized that he cannot win by trying to charge head-long into your waiting guns. So now, he may try a different strategy."

"Strategy my lord? These are Orks you are talking about! Their only strategy is to keep charging until either they or we are dead." The Colonel confidently comments. Saroya just shakes her head,

"Colonel. Even I am not so foolish to think so low of the filthy xenos. The Orks may be brutisth, uncivilized, and be nothing more than a plague on this galaxy. But the leaders of their race do have understandings of strategy and planning. So right now we have to assume that their Warboss is planning something to negate our defences." Saroya states as Lauf nods in agreement while the Colonel thinks,

"Maybe….. I could send some teams down into the pipes that run underneath the surface? I have some defenses already established down there in case of an attempted breach so they should be alright for investigating." The Colonel thinks while Lauf steps back towards the exit,

"It is now your responsibility Colonel. I will leave you to it." Lauf steps out of the tent, followed closely by the Canoness who still gives him a wide berth. He walks away from her towards Astra and the other two waiting by a box of ammunition that Cassidy was taking belts from to restock her heavy bolter. Ashe sees Lauf first and nudges the other two,

"Lord Lauf. What happened in the tent?" Ashe asks while Astra helps Cassidy load the ammunition into the pack attached to the heavy bolter. Lauf shakes his head to indicate he did not feel it went well,

"Hardly anything was resolved Celestian. All I was able to see was that this Colonel is less respectable than your Canoness judging by his desire to throw his men's lives away. The Canoness and I did manage to dissuade him from this course of action. But I feel that it is only a temporary stall. While this Colonel dreams of glory earned by the blood if his troops, these Orks are probably moving into position as we speak." Lauf smells the air while he talks with the Sisters. The stink of dead Orks, gunpowder and human smells make it hard for him to see if there are any Orks trying to sneak by them. But when he takes a good sniff, he gets the different scents. There are definitely Orks trying to sneak around. But right now they are still behind the wall of Ork corpses so it does not matter much,

"Sisters. Come with me. I want to check on something inside the Manufactorum." Lauf says as he glances up at the giant gates that have barely cracked open to let more machines rolling out from the production floor to the guard lines. Ashe looks back at Astra and Cassidy as they finish reloading the heavy bolter. She motions with her head for them to fall in behind her and the two Sisters run after her as she follows Lauf along the trench. They walk past the command and medical tents in the back of the guard line up to the gate of the Manufactorum. When they arrive at the gate Lauf looks up at the massive Adamantium doors and the many defensive positions around it. Every window and opening on the wall near the gate has a large weapon coming out of it. It goes from a couple guardsmen with las-guns up to large turrets that resemble the point-defence turrets on Imperatus Rex's body. He steps aside when a Macharius heavy tank rolls out of the Manufactorum towards a position near the titan's right leg,

"Shall we Sisters?" Lauf asks, to the nods and smiles of the three Sisters. Lauf walks forward past the gate just as it closes behind them. A loud hiss followed by steam coming out of parts of the gate indicates the gate's completely seal together. Now only a heavy weapon like the Hellstorm Canon on Rex will be able to punch through them and from what Lauf saw, the Orks do not have anything like that. So those gates are not going to be the point of entrance if the Orks do manage to break into the Manufactorum. Lauf looks from the gate and gives a quick scan of the Manufactorum production floor. What he sees impresses him immediately.

 **In front** of them there are large bays where the serfs and some tech-priests add the final touches to the tanks and other vehicles being built on the ten production lines the giant Manufactorum has inside it. Clanging and melting metal sounds tells Lauf of the amount of production this one building is doing without having to see them. While Lauf admires the production lines Astra, Ashe and Cassidy stare up at the top of the Manfactorum where they can see the sigil of the Adeptus Mechanicus painted across most of the roof. Beneath that a network of catwalks create a web where Magos and other high-ranking Tech-priests walk and look down at the production floor,

"Where do you want to go lord Lauf?" Ashe asks as Lauf points with his sword at one corner of the Manufactorum,

"Over there. We can get a better idea of the building from that." Lauf's direction points at a room that sticks out from the wall slightly looking down at the farthest production lines. Ashe nods. It seems like the obvious location to get a full schematic or at the very least speak with a Magos who can direct them around the Manufactorum,

"Lead on then my lord." She says before Lauf starts walking up the slight ramp leading towards the gate from the bays at the end of the production lines. When he passes by the finishing bays, two tech-priests see them and whisper between each other. The sounds they make remind Lauf of a cogitator passing data to another cogitator,

"Bloody walking toasters. Can't they just talk like normal humans?" Lauf glances back at Cassidy who is grumbling even as she follows behind Ashe. She adjusts the strap supporting her heavy bolter when Ashe gives her a smack to the stomach with her elbow while they keep walking towards the office like room in the far corner. They move between two of the production lines and avoid the serfs and servitors working on both sides of them. Astra glances up to see what is being made on the lines. On their left, Chimeras of the Mars pattern are rolling along on the track. Each one has a twin-linked heavy bolter in place of the multi-laser usually set as the main weapon of a chimera. On the right the manufacturing line has Leman Russ Exterminators being built. Their twin linked autocannons are very useful for the guardsmen outside the Manufactorum in this fight. As she watches, servitors move around the tanks fusing parts of the metal together while the turret gets attached to the hull as a serf fuses the two together with the fusion torch he has to carry. A shake of the entire Manufactorum stops the human serfs for only a second while the servitors keep working regardless of the actions around them,

"Want to check how much these cyborgs have been lobotomized?" Cassidy jokes as she looks at Astra and Ashe. Both do not look impressed by the idea, "Uh no Cassie. I'm not interested in becoming one. Considering some of the things I hear the Adeptus Mechanicus do to anyone who messes with their works. Including their servitors." Ashe says as Lauf finally reaches the ladder leading up to the extension on the wall. Lauf sees some figures inside the room, a perfect place to find a diagram or holographic map of the underside of the Manufactorum. Lauf starts to climb with the Sisters behind him. As he climbs up the ladder, Lauf looks down and smiles encouragingly at Ashe who is in the lead of the three,

"Alright down there Sisters?" Lauf calls down to Ashe looking up at him and smiles, "Yes my lord! Nothing to worry about here." She answers back as the three Sisters follow him up the ladder. Ashe in front, Cassidy in the middle and Astra bringing up the rear, occasionally giving Cassidy an extra boost as the heavy bolter pack pulls her backwards from the ladder thanks to gravity. When Lauf reaches the top of the ladder he turns around and offers a hand to each of the Sisters when they reach the top. Each one takes the hand with an appreciative smile and thank you. Cassidy adds a shoulder smack with her free hand when she takes Lauf's hand. The Sisters all walk towards the room after Lauf steps aside for them to lead on. Ashe goes up to the door and starts knocking on it. She waits for a short while before knocking again, harder this time. Still no answer from inside the room,

"Let me try Sister." Lauf walks over to the door and with a small growl, he hits the door with his fist, smashing it clear off its hinges. The door flies back into the room and hits the back wall as Lauf steps aside and motions with an arm towards the open door,

"After you Sisters." Lauf says as Ashe and Cassidy look at him with a bit of surprise at the action while Astra laughs a little,

"Still showing off Wolf." She walks past him but quickly recoils at the sight inside. When the others see her pull back in horror Ashe, Cassidy and Lauf rush inside with weapons ready and see what has shocked Astra. Two tech-priests lie against a cogitator panel with every single one of their implants torn out and used to hold the bodies up. The loss of the implants make the two corpses look like a mass of flesh instead of a human body. Also in the room are several serfs hacked to pieces scattered on the floor,

"I don't like this." Ashe whispers when Lauf hears something behind him. Spinning around he stabs into darkness and a squishy sound and resistance tells him he hit something. He pulls his sword out of the darkness and growls at the sight of an Ork Kommando skewered on his blade,

"I knew it." Lauf grumbles as the Kommando is still alive and tries to swing his own choppa at Lauf, only to get a bolter round through the head by Cassidy,

"They're already in the Manufactorum. We need to tell the Canoness." Ashe states when an explosion nears the room knocks all four of them to the ground. Lauf quickly gets up and rushes to the window to see what happened and his anger rises at what he can see. The back of a manufacturing line is now a pile of rubble as Ork Kommandos and Lootaz laugh and cheer as they grab some of the weapons being built,

"We need to get out of here!" Astra turns to the door and sees a pile of metal has now blocked the door from the explosion, "We're trapped!" She shouts at the other sisters and Lauf while he looks at the window,

"I have an idea." He says, grabbing the dead Ork's choppa and with a grunt he hurls it at the window, smashing it to pieces. He looks back at the three Sisters before he howls For Russ and rushes out of the new exit and tumbles down sides of broken chunks of metal that roll him down to the floor below. When he lands he charges at the Orks who stare at him. They had watched him come to the ground and did not think it was possible for a Space Marine to survive the fall like that. But quickly they start firing and charging at him looking to claim his weapons as their own. One Kommando swings his choppa and locks it with Lauf's axe,

"Yer axe looks like it'll be a good piece fer me Speez Marine!" The Kommando grunts as he tries to beat Lauf, only to grunt in shock when Lauf stabs him through the guts,

"I don't think so. Ork." He spits as he pushes his sword fully through the Kommando and stabs another Ork that was running towards him too fast to stop, impaling them both on the blade. When another Kommando tries to shoot, a spray of bolter rounds rip him to pieces as the three join Lauf on the ground and start laying down accurate fire on the Orks. While they shoot at the Orks Lauf pulls his sword out of the two Kommandos and swings his axe into the chest of a Loota that tries to fire his deff-gun at the Sisters. Ork blood spews across the floor of the Manufactorum as Ashe ducks behind a half-finished Chimera, Cassidy uses part of the manufacturing line as a stand for the heavy bolter. And Astra hides behind a hunk of armour that was meant for a Leman Russ tank. All three keep shooting at the Orks as they try to fire back with their deff guns only to be hit with either a frost sword or axe as Lauf closes the distance with the Kommandos or Lootas and attacks with all the fury of a true wolf. With the combined long range fire and close quarters assault the Orks fall quickly and all that remains of them are corpses and bits of bodies. Lauf wipes off the blood on the blades of his weapons with a piece of fabric from off of the body of a loota. He looks back to see how the Sisters fared in that battle and smirks.

Ashe helps Astra up from the ground as she has blood coming down the side of her face from a lucky slug that came from a Kommando which grazed her while Cassidy pushes a dead Ork off a manufacturing line. None of them are offering up insufferable prayers or incinerating everything in sight for being 'polluted by xenos' hands' as have the Sisters he's encountered in the past,

"That's just one more mark of pride for you Astra." Lauf points to the cut that's bleeding on her face, making all three Sisters chuckle a little while Lauf glances around, "Can anyone see where these Orks came into the Manufactorum?" He asks while the Servitors and chained serfs continue working on the manufacturing lines even as the fighting goes on around them. The cyborgs and serfs do not stop for to do so would be an affront to the Machine God and would result in punishment by the Tech-priests that ignored the assault by the greenskins and focused instead on the manufacturing lines, not even giving a nod of thanks to Lauf or the Sisters for killing the Orks attacking inside the Manufactorum. Their continued work keeps the supplies to the guardsmen outside not worrying about running out of ammunition, but it does frustrate Lauf because the chained serfs have no way of escaping if the Orks do manage to breach the walls. Then again, going by the Loota and Kommando bodies at his feet this is a redundant point at the moment as he calms himself down from attacking some tech-priest for their disregard for lives. He is drawn out of his thoughts about the tech-priests and the still working manufacturing lines in spite of the threat by Ashe calling out,

"Lord Lauf! I think we found where the Orks came from!" Lauf turns around and sees the three Sisters gathered around a plate that seems to be out of place on the floor. Ashe tries to lift the large plate off the ground but the heavy metal is very difficult for her to lift alone and Cassidy and Astra are too busy keeping their weapons at the ready. If this is the place where the Orks came out of they want to make sure that no other Ork comes rushing out of the hole while they're trying to expose it.

Lauf approaches and puts his weapons back on his hips. Reaching down he grips the edge of the plate and grunts. His armour groans as his strength, aided by his power armour strains to lift the large piece of metal. Slowly he pulls it up high enough for the three to check down the hole,

"Well that definitely was where the Orks came from." Astra comments as they can see three dead guardsmen with choppa and shoota wounds at the bottom of the hole, "Ok. We need to seal this hole right now. Cassidy…." Ashe reaches over and holds out a large grenade, "You can have the honours." She sighs as she holds the grenade out to Cassidy. The squeal of joy is so high pitched and loud that Lauf thinks for a second that his ears will bleed as Cassidy grabs the grenade and does a small jump for joy at the prospect of throwing the grenade,

"Not to put a damper on your joy. But this cannot hold up for long." Lauf grunts as his armour continues to whine and groan at the pressure of the plate against it. Cassidy quickly calms down as she flicks the switch on the grenade,

"Hey green boys! Catch!" She shouts as she drops the grenade down the hole and pulls away while Lauf drops the plate and dives away, covering Astra and Ashe. The grenade explodes and shakes the ground around the hole as they hear metal and debris collapse the hole,

"Hopefully that'll slow down the greenskins. And took a few of them out." Ashe says while Lauf gets off the two as Cassidy laughs, "Oh that was fun Celestian! Could you PLEASE give me another one to use? PLEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEE?" She begs with an exaggerated look on her face. Ashe opens her mouth to respond when Lauf suddenly feels the hair on the back of his neck stand up and a familiar scent fills his nostrils when he pulls Ashe and Astra to the ground just as a bolt of warp lightning misses them. He growls as he looks where the bolt came from and sees the blue armour with the flaming circle on the pauldron,

"Traitor." He snarls as he stands up and draws both weapons. The Sorcerer's face is impossible to determine hidden behind his helmet but he quickly runs down a hallway. Lauf chases after Ramses down the hall. He is so focused on chasing this coward that he does not hear the Sisters shout after him while the gate of the Manufactorum cracks open from an Ork battering ram that brings the fighting between the guardsmen, Sisters and Orks to the floor of Manufactorum Primaris. Right now all that is not important to Lauf. He is so close to getting his vengeance. He can feel it. Soon his pack-mates' souls will rest in peace as he races through the hallway and up a ladder.

 **Climbing up** to the top of the Manufactorum, he sees Ramses standing with his back to him, "Turn and face me witch." He snarls as Ramses turns around, "I knew you would come after me. Predictable. Like the rest of your pathetic chapter." Ramses responds as Lauf glares at him, "Today I will send your soul into Morkai's waiting jaws coward." He says as his braids and hair wave from a gust of wind that blows between them, "Send my regards to your weak Emperor when you see him in the land of the dead." Ramses says as warp energy begins to flow around him. Lauf growls as he grips his sword and axe tightly, "For my brothers! Russ! And the Wolftime!" With that cry he charges.

TO BE CONTINUED…..


	12. The Wolf and the Witch

The air burns in his lungs. The stench of industry fills his nose. The howls of wind muffle his ears and the taste of metal is on his tongue. But Lauf does not care about any of that as he runs as fast as his legs and armour can move him towards Ramses. The Sorcerer raises his hand above his head as energies of the warp gathers around it. In a matter of seconds there is a large orb of this energy around Ramses' hand and he throws it. Multiple bolts of warp lightning flies out from his palm and comes at Lauf who is within several feet of Ramses. There is an explosion of light as the warp energy hits the head of Lauf's axe. Its runes shine through the explosion while he holds it up to block the lightning. Lauf grunts as he struggles forward against the pressure from the sorcery,

"You seem to have gained some parlour tricks since last we met lapdog." Ramses' voice comes over the wind and sounds of the lightning hitting his axe into his ears, "But they will not stop me from sending you to join your pathetic brethren." His insults make Lauf's blood boil over and this causes him to push harder against the lighting. With a howl to the sky he twists his weapon to the side, sending the lightning up into the sky, leaving the space between him and Ramses empty,

"Time to die witch!" He shouts as he lunges forward, swinging his axe and sword at Ramses with more force than he's ever had before against an enemy. Ramses just manages to move back from the strike, swinging his own staff around and deflecting the sword. As the sword moves away Ramses spins his staff and thrusts the point at Lauf's neck, aiming at the weak point in between the pieces of armour. It clangs as Lauf quickly puts his axe in the way of Ramses' thrust, pushing it to the side of his body, scraping his skin and drawing some blood. Sparks fly out of the edge of Lauf's frost-axe while he runs it along Ramses' staff towards his hands. Ramses quickly lifts his staff up to get out of the way of Lauf's attack. Just as he gets the axe off his staff Lauf darts forward and stabs his sword at his arm.

Ramses shouts in agony as Lauf's sword goes through the armour, flesh, muscle and bone of his upper arm and comes out the other side, "Damn you lapdog!" He shouts while he punches Lauf square in the jaw with his free arm, forcing him to pull the sword out of the wound with a spray of blood coming out after the sword. Lauf backs up a few steps before he spits out some of his own blood. It lands on the roof while Lauf glares at Ramses as he looks down at his wound that seals up quickly,

"I will make you pay for that, dog of the Emperor." Ramses spits out his hatred to Lauf as he circles the Sorcerer, "I am no dog. I am a wolf!" He shouts as he charges again at Ramses and locks blades with Ramses' staff. The force of the strike knocks the Sorcerer down to one knee. Lauf grits his teeth as he keeps pushing his sword and axe down towards his head as Ramses struggles to keep the weapons up. Ramses may have more than 10,000 years of experience. But Lauf is far better in close quarters and fueled by pure rage at the murderer of his pack-mates. As he pushes down near Ramses' head he suddenly feels pain coming from his sides just as Ramses disappears from sight, teleporting across the roof from Lauf,

"Coward!" He calls out when he tries to move, only to glance down and growl as he sees barbed chains digging into his sides. Growling louder he cuts both chains quickly with his weapons and runs towards Ramses as he channels energy from his body and the warp to cast the spell Tzeentch's Firestorm at him. Just as he looks ready to cast it, Lauf closes the distance,

"No you don't!" Lauf shouts as he tackles Ramses around the waist. He lifts him off the ground and keeps running with the Sorcerer towards a solid metal wall on the roof. Ramses does not have time to react as his back slams into the wall multiple times when Lauf quickly backs up and smashes into the wall repeatedly in a matter of seconds, creating an indent and cracks in the place he kept hitting. When Lauf goes to slam Ramses again, his leg gives out as he gets kicked there by one jab from Ramses' foot and lets go of his enemy. When he goes down Ramses hits him in the back of the head to knock him to the ground. Just as his armoured gauntlet touches the hair on the back of Lauf's head he pulls it to the side of the fist. It scrapes Lauf's cheek as he snaps his head up and headbutts Ramses square in the forehead, following it with his fists when he starts to pummel Ramses. His fists strike Ramses in the face, neck, chest, stomach, shoulders arms and sides one after the other. He does not let up in his attack to give Ramses a chance to harness the powers of the warp. Every blow pushes Ramses back against the wall, preventing escape or a chance to respond as the pummeling continues. Lauf strikes as hard as he can across the side of Ramses' head, knocking him to the ground. When he goes for his axe Ramses raises his hand and blasts Lauf back with a charge of warp energy. He rolls along the ground and spins to keep facing Ramses. He growls as he shakes off the leftover energy while he stands up fully with his weapons drawn again while Ramses finally gets his staff back,

"Not bad lapdog. But you're still not going to get your revenge today." Ramses says with a cough as some blood falls out from the bottom of his helmet as his staff begins to glow bright. Ramses raises his hands and starts chanting in some strange language but Lauf has no intention of letting the Warp come out here and he runs again at the Sorcerer. Ramses stops his spell casting and quickly spins his staff and starts to try and deflect or block Lauf's strikes. He tries to keep distance while Lauf continues his assault, getting as close as he can to Ramses, stabbing or swinging with his sword and axe. His strikes causes sparks to fly every time they contact the staff. Ramses' lack of close quarters fighting becomes very clear now as he struggles under the assault when he tries to unleash warp lighting at Lauf. When it hits his axe the runes again light up and a small wall of energy deflects the lighting away around Lauf, scrapping metal on the roof and hitting a tower with an explosion. Lauf swings his axe, stopping the lighting and sending it back to Ramses, hurling him away,

"Your cowardly abilities won't aid you here witch. All your running and trickery won't save you now as there is nowhere left to hide." Lauf begins to advance towards Ramses as the Sorcerer stands up with support from his staff,

"You really believe that I would just come here without any preparations lapdog? Oh of course, you're too busy chasing your tail to see what is going on here." Ramses asks as a warp portal opens in front of him. Screamers fly out of the portal and soar up before plummeting towards Lauf as he growls,

"You think these creatures will save you coward?" He shouts as he cuts the first Screamer that comes near him in two with his sword and he spins around and cuts through a second one's head with his axe. More Screamers fly out of the portal while Ramses uses his warp powers to try and repair his body from the injuries Lauf gave him with his fists and sword. As he treats his wounds he can hear the plopping bodies of the Screamers hitting the ground as Lauf advances towards him slowly, making a line of Screamer corpses on either side of him. As he approaches the portal he sees something much larger trying to come through, but it still cannot fully enter the Material world as the portal is too weak for it to manifest completely. It does manage to push its arm out of the portal and digs into the roof top to pull itself out of the warp. Not if Lauf can help it as he hits one Screamer with one blade of his axe and quickly hits another Screamer with the other blade. As soon as the Screamers die Lauf throws his sword at the arm. It cuts through the middle finger and splits the hand right down the middle, causing it to become two sides of a hand. The creature it was attached to gives a scream that can still be heard through the portal while the wounds burn from the energy coming out of Lauf's Frost-sword before it retreats into the Warp, collapsing the portal. Lauf grins as Ramses seem to be surprised at his portal's collapse and all the burning daemon bodies,

"Nowhere left to hide traitor." Lauf grabs his sword off the ground as he starts running again towards Ramses. As he gets close he brings his axe back and stabs his sword towards Ramses stomach. Ramses flicks his staff to the side, deflecting the sword while the axe comes forward aimed at his head. The clang of metal echoes over the fighting below them as Ramses just manages to stop the strike with his staff in both hands. Lauf is growing frustrated at this repetition. He needs to switch it up to kill the Sorcerer. Suddenly an idea comes to his mind and he grins.

Ramses struggles to hold the axe from being buried in his head when his whole body suddenly tenses and a shock of pain unlike anything he's ever felt fly through his body originating from between his legs. Lauf's grin grows as he pulls his leg back from where it hit Ramses as the Sorcerer crumples to the ground clutching his groin with one hand while he pushes Lauf back with a wall of warp fire that will destroy who Lauf is by turning him into a mindless chaos spawn if he touches it. He watches Ramses struggle to stand, but the pain keeps coursing through his body while he finds a way to get through the fire.

As Ramses finally feel the pain begin to subside he hears metal rip apart then the sound of something big fly through the air. He does not have long to guess what it is when a small water tank lands on the ground, dispersing his fire wall and knocking him to the ground. Looking up at the sun he sees some glint as Lauf roars loudly,

"FOR MY BROTHERS!" He shouts as he comes down from where he jumped on the back of the water tank towards Ramses and puts as much force as his body can summon into his axe swing. The axe comes down and hits Ramses in the right eye section of his helmet. The energy field and blade of his axe peels the armour away while the weight hits like a hammer into his face underneath. It knocks Ramses back and he clutches the wound while Immaterium power seeps out like smoke from the opening in his armour,

"You…. You…. You dog!" Ramses raises both hands high above him and shoots a huge amount of warp lighting at Lauf. Lauf quickly turns his axe so the flat of the blade looks at him and he drops to one knee to take this blow as the eyes of the wolf-heads on the axe begin to glow. The impact of the lighting against the runic protection makes Lauf slide back an inch as he squeezes his hands as tightly as possible to keep it in place while the lighting flies out to either side of him, "DIE MUTT!" Ramses shouts as he continues to fire lighting at Lauf, getting closer and closer to him to increase the pressure from his powers. Lauf closes his eyes as he prays to the Allfather for the strength and power to send this murderer to Morkai. As he silently prays the runes on his weapon glow brighter against the still burning warp lighting that intensifies as Ramses gets closer. He is almost certain he can feel the powers the Rune priests tap into to use their powers. Unknown to Lauf Ramses can see the outlines of what appear to be Space Marines standing in front of Lauf, taking most of his power and blocking him from getting any closer,

"What are you?" He demands, momentarily distracted and losing his focus on casting the spell, causing it to fall away as the spirits vanish when Lauf jumps up and tackles Ramses. He falls to the ground but does not stay there long when a hand wraps around his neck and pulls him up,

"Now you have nothing left." Lauf says before he punches Ramses hard enough to knock him onto the ground, "You murdered all of them." Lauf stands over Ramses and punches him several times in the face, "They were my brothers! My pack! You!" Lauf grabs Ramses by the shoulders and lifts him over his head, "Earned! This!" He shouts as he throws Ramses to the ground, crashing several times along the roof. Ramses pants hard as he stays on his knees while Lauf picks up his axe and approaches Ramses and lifts it over his head, "Now die." He does not get a chance to bring the axe down when Ramses raises his hand and catch Lauf with a blast of lighting that makes his whole body thrash and shake in agony as the warp energy courses through his body.

Lauf shouts in agony as he drops his axe while his hands clench and open from the lighting making all his muscles contract and flex and his legs stop holding him up. When he hits the ground the lighting continues through him as Ramses stands up while laughing and keep using his warp powers without any worry as he looks down at the Space Wolf. He finally stops unleashing the lighting but Lauf keeps twitching from the remaining lightning energy still inside his body,

"Now you have nothing left lapdog. But I will be pleased to send you to join them with your corpse Emperor." Ramses sends out some warp energy and wraps around his staff and brings it back to his hand,

"Don't worry. This won't hurt…. Much." He assures as he raises his staff with the spear-like point aimed at Lauf's chest and brings it down.

Lauf's ears ring and his eyes are blurry. He can see this coward raising his weapon over his chest and looks ready to kill him, _Forgive me brothers. I failed._ He thinks when he is certain he is delirious when what next happens. Ramses strike is suddenly stopped by a glittering weapon and he is knocked back by someone. The spear seems to make a sound as it spins through the air but Lauf thinks this is a result of the ringing in his ears as he cannot make out who is fighting Ramses now. He can tell it is a woman but she moves a little too fluidly to be a regular Sister of Battle or Guardswoman as she spins the spear on either side of her as she stabs and swings at Ramses, who fights back with his own staff. This new individual practically dances around Ramses while he spins around trying to hit her. He does manage to keep her from actually striking him, but Ramses barely keeps up as the woman stabs the wound in his arm where Lauf had previously stabbed in between the armour. Lauf shakes his head certain he is definitely seeing things now as he sees long flowing red hair flying behind the woman's head as she continues to spin her spear in a wheel. The sound, something like young shield maidens singing continues, stopping only when she lunges the spear at Ramses, _I must be mad now. A spear is singing now._ Lauf feels his eyes get heavy when Ramses unleashes warp lighting while the woman seems to fire something back, catching the lighting between the two. The clash of strange abilities continues for a few seconds before it breaks and the woman continues her assault against Ramses who is so busy trying to not be killed by the woman that he cannot attack Lauf at his most vulnerable moment. But Lauf does not get a good chance to comment about this as he struggles to drag himself over to something to support his upper body and watch out for any tricks Ramses tries to pull against him while still fighting the strange woman who keeps him on his toes. Lauf pulls himself along the roof with every motion causing pain and spasms through his body from the lighting attack.

Finally getting himself to the wall, Lauf grunts in pain as he sits up and rests his back against it after he turns around. Panting a few times in frustration at being as weak as a new-born pup he looks at the fight between the two. He still cannot see very well with his dulled vision as his eyes slowly come back as the energy begins to disappear from his body and he can start to make things out about the strange woman. As he already could tell she has red hair that has the first quarter coming out of her head tied in a greenish ribbon while the rest falls down to the bottom of her shoulders. Her figure is definitely human, but he cannot tell for certain who she is when he begins to fall unconscious. Just before he completely loses consciousness he sees two symbols on the woman's attire. One on her left hand and the other on her back. When his mind finally processes the information he lets a small growl escape from his throat, _Eldar…_ He looks at the symbols for the Uthwé and Alaitoc Craftworlds as the last thing he sees before he fully collapses unconscious.

Lauf feels like he's floating. All around him is darkness and silence. Trying to move only causes Lauf to spin around in a circle. After several attempts at this he finally stops and just lets him float along this strange force. As he stops trying to move he can start to hear a voice, too far to hear clearly even with his enhanced ears. Then it comes again, slightly louder this time. Lauf turns his head around trying to find the source of the voice, but all he can see is pitch black darkness around him and his other senses do not help him smell or hear anything except that quiet voice off in the distance of this darkness. Every ten seconds he can hear the voice getting louder with each call. Finally he can make out what it is saying, _"Wake up. Wolf wake up."_ Multiple times as he starts to feel his body shaking and the voice getting louder,

"Wolf! Wake up! Please! By the Emperor please be alive!" Astra shakes Lauf harder as Ashe and Cassidy watch the devastation as the Orks below them fight the guardsmen and their Sisters desperately trying to hold onto the Manufactorum even as the Orks tear the machinery apart to loot the valuables within. As Astra struggles to shake Lauf again a hand snaps up and grabs her throat as Lauf finally wakes up and immediately gets into a battle stance only to realize what he was doing. Quickly letting go of Astra he looks at the sisters,

"What is going on? Where is the traitor?" He demands as he bares his fangs. He was so close. He could have killed Ramses then and there. Now he's gone. And he has no idea where he went. But a good look at the Sisters makes him see that there is something much more important to be concerned about right now,

"My lord. The Manufactorum….. has fallen…." Ashe admits with a defeated look, "Oh come on! Let me down there and we'll push those xenos off this planet in a short order!" Cassidy states as she lifts her heavy bolter up only to get a smack on the back of her head by Ashe, "Don't be stupid Cassie. You go down there and you may kill a few Orks. But the others will rip you to pieces. We need to get out of here." Ashe explains as Lauf looks around,

"Why is Imperatus Rex over there?" Lauf points in the direction of the Warlord Titan which is now standing towards the Manufactorum, "We received an order from our Cannoness to stand our ground. But Princeps Alexia responded by withdrawing from the lost Manufactorum to defend the only working space-port where the guardsmen not here have been gathering to protect those civilians not already slaughtered by the Orks. That's where we need to get to if we want to get off this world alive." Astra explains as she rubs her neck as marks form where Lauf's hand had wrapped around her. Lauf grits his teeth. Another time he has to leave his quest behind because the coward managed to escape him. Shaking his head he steadies his resolve. This is just a minor diversion at least that is what he keeps telling himself as they run down the side of the Manufactorum to the street below. When they reach the ground Lauf glances into a window inside the Manufactorum one last time in time to witness an unfortunate guardsman being smashed head-first into a pillar by a laughing Ork Loota. He growls as he clutches his axe and sword. He will avenge all the dead on this planet by taking the head of the Warboss of this WAAAGH. He turns away before the Orks bother to look through the open window to see him and starts racing after the Sisters as they all head towards the spaceport.

They run through the broken and destroyed streets, avoiding any random groups of Lootas and other Orks rampaging around them looking for anything of value. Much as Cassidy wants to shoot all them into green paste, Lauf points out that for now they have to behave like sneaky Dark Angels and avoid fighting. As they climb up one hab-block's smashed side Lauf tosses each of the Sisters up to the next level when none of them can reach it. First Ashe who lands safely on the floor. Next he grabs Astra and throws her up to Ashe who gives her a hand when she almost falls off the edge, "Next up!" Ashe calls down as Cassidy goes to complain about what was about to happen but Lauf ignores her statement as he grabs her around the waist and with a loud grunt he throws her and her heavy bolter up to the next floor. Even with his strength and power armour she almost does not get up high enough to grab onto the edge. Fortunately Ashe and Astra grab her outstretched hands and help her up. When Cassidy gets up to the floor she looks down and notices that Lauf has no way up to them. _We should've seen this part coming._ Cassidy grumbles but Lauf smiles up at them

"Keep going. I'll come out on this level." Lauf calls up to them, before he looks down the hallway he is and sees a group of Orks spotting him, "Don't wait up for me Sisters. I'll join you as soon as I can." He calls as he starts walking towards the Orks, drawing his axe and sword, "Time for you xenos to face the cold grip of Fenris." Lauf says when he disappears from the Sisters' view. They cannot hear what is going on below them before they take Lauf's order and start running through the empty hallway towards the other side where Imperatus Rex and the spaceport are. When they run through the hab they see that there is virtually no human bodies while a number of Ork bodies line the halls and rooms. There are also giant holes in the walls and windows where shells from Rex's Gatling Blaster turned the attempted cover into nothing more than lethal shrapnel against the Greenskins that tried to hide behind it. Beyond the hab they can see hastily constructed defences manned by the guard while transports carry civilians and wounded soldiers up to the few Imperial ships still in the system. In front of these positions Ashe notices the number of Ork bodies showing how long the guardsmen have held this position. When they finally come to a point where they can get down to join these guardsmen another Ork attack begins as the greenskins try again to get inside the spaceport before the transports and civilians get away.

Just as Ashe and her two Sisters start to fire on the Orks a loud crash causes them and Sisters to turn to its source. They watch as an Ork without his head flies through an already damaged wall and rolls down the rubble pile that makes a ramp up to that section. As the cloud of dust which follows the wall collapsing begins to dissipate Ashe can see a large figure running through the dust until Lauf leaps out of the cloud with his weapons raised high and his fangs clearly visible as he shouts 'FOR RUSS!' And lands among the Orks immediately cutting any close to him down with his sword and axe while shouting out curses in Juvjk at the Orks in clear view of the guardsmen holding onto the position in front of the spaceport. Lauf surprise attack catches the Orks off guard as the three Sisters start to fire at the ones who have not rushed to face the 'Speez Marine!'in close quarters where he continues to show his skills. Lauf becomes a swirling vortex that leaves decapitated corpses and dismembered limbs in a circle heading towards the spaceport as Ashe and Cassidy follow right behind while Astra moves slightly to their left to help some guardsmen pressed to the right of Imperatus Rex's leg by a group of Ork Lootas more interested in the loot in the spaceport than the Space Wolf. As Astra makes her way towards the guardsmen, she fires her bolter in concentrated and accurate bursts that hit each Ork she aims at in either the chest or the head while the las-fire coming from the Guardsmen is less accurate but more intense. This crossfire cuts the Orks down very quickly as Astra arrives at the front of the barrier at the same time that Lauf and the other Sisters finish off the group that thought it was smart to take on the three Warriors of the Imperium. The guardsmen all look at their comrades, thanking the God-Emperor for their fortune when one shouts out to try and warn Astra of the Choppa that hits her before she can react. Her power armour takes the worst of the hit, but she still bleeds when she hits the ground and the big Nob towers above her with his choppa raised to deliver a killing blow for the deaths of his boyz.

As Astra prepares to come to the Emperor's side a chainsword comes out from behind her view and blocks the choppa's strike, "I don't think so Ork." A man's voice comes from the chainsword's handle as it revs. The teeth bite into the haft of the axe, slowly rising as the Ork tries to free his weapon. In a few seconds the chainsword goes completely through the haft and up into the middle of the Ork's face. He only manages to shout out a little before the revving teeth tear through the flesh and bone. It gets half-way through the head before the wielder of the chainsword pulls it hard to the side, removing the rest of the Ork's head. Astra stands up, clutching her side as she looks to her saviour. She is surprised to see a guardsman gunnery sergeant holding the chainsword,

"My lady. It's time to get off this world." He says as he can see the last guardsmen aside from him and the four standing there. Even Imperatus Rex is finally in a transport large enough to take the warlord. There was just one transport left inside the spaceport that had not taken off yet and the pilot was not about to wait around,

"No time to stand here." Lauf calls as he starts running towards the exit from the Spaceport with Ashe and Cassidy beside him. Astra starts to get up only to see the gunnery sergeant offer her a hand which she gratefully accepts. Once she is fully on her feet she and the guardsman run after Lauf and the others. They run through the entrance of the spaceport just as Ashe and Cassidy start to board the transport. Astra watches in surprise as Ashe turns to face her and the sergeant and raises her bolter, seeming to aim right at her,

"Ashe! What are you…." Astra is cut off by Ashe firing a single bolter round. It flies out of her gun and into the head of an Ork that tried to sneak up on her, "Come on!" She shouts as she can see more Orks coming to try and stop their transport from leaving. Astra runs faster with the sergeant to the transport and climb inside while Lauf waits until they are inside before he gets inside and pulls the door closed before the mechanical locks can do so. The seals close tight as the pilot starts flying off the ground. As they ascend Lauf can see the transport carrying Imperatus Rex flying up with them towards the waiting warship. They come up through the planet's atmosphere without any issue as the Orks are busy looting the manufactorums down below and too focused on that to bother with going after the vulnerable transports in any force. This may be horrific for the Adeptus Mechanicus as the loss of a sacred forge world is terrible, but it is a blessing from the Emperor for the people in the transports as they are able to make it safely to the cruiser in orbit and land inside its hangars.

When the transport carrying Imperatus Rex as well as the one with Lauf and the Sisters come inside the cruiser begins to and charge up its engine to enter the warp. As soon as they land Lauf watches as the doors close completely just as the cruiser finally enters the warp. Lauf slumps against the side of the transport. He cannot believe he is this tired. The fight against Ramses had drained him more than he realized. But still he could not rest completely. Not until Ramses' head was held afloat in his hand. That day was when he could finally rest truly when he returned to Fenris and his Chapter. While Lauf rests against the side of the transport, Astra gets up and walks after the Gunnery Sergeant who walked out of the transport as soon as he could,

"Sergeant." She calls out as she runs up to him, "Yes my lady?" He sets his chainsword on top of his shoulder as he looks at her, "I never got a chance to ask your name and thank you for the Ork." Astra says as the Gunnery Sergeant chuckles,

"No need to thank me my lady. Just doing my duty to the Emperor. But my name. Is Gunnery Sergeant Alfie Darington." He says proudly, "I'm Sister Astra. Pleasure to meet you Gunnery Sergeant. And again thank you for killing that Ork before he stuck his weapon into my head." She says with a smile while she feels the ship shake and groan while it flies through the Warp,

"Holy Emperor. Please guard us through this nightmare realm and let us gaze into your holy light once again." She says, hoping that even in this dark place, the Emperor will watch over them and keep them safe against the horrors of the warp as the ship travels towards its destination, the capital world of the Sub-Sector: the Hive World of Grael Major. She just hopes that they will make it there as the darkness closed all around them. The only light was a dull blue glow coming from Lauf's weapons, the small flicker holding back the dark of the warp and night.

TO BE CONTINUED….


	13. Arrival

The energies and horrors of the warp push up against the Gellar fields of the cruiser as it travels through the Immaterium. The cargo bays are filled with all the transports that safely escaped Grael Secundus and their human cargos all praise the God-Emperor for safely seeing them off that nightmare world. But while the civilians thank the God-Emperor, the guardsmen and other soldiers all sit around their equipment quietly. They all know that they only managed to escape the Orks and it was not much of a victory after all the troops they lost. But more significantly was that they lost a forge world. However hope remains among the guardsmen when they look towards the one source of light inside the bay that gives a small illumination. While only a small light, it is enough for the guardsmen to know they are not alone as the bluish glow of the Frost weapons encourage them to be ready to stand and hold the capital world against the Orks. To fail in this task would be more shameful than normal as they would be failing before the eyes of one of the legendary Vlka Fenryka. Lauf knows that his presence was a great morale boost for the guardsmen, but right now he was not thinking about this. Instead he was trying to remember anything more about the fight he witnessed between Ramses and the strange Eldar. He did not understand why that xeno had stepped in and stopped Ramses from killing him.

This confused him to no end. The Eldar were always enigmatic and tricksters who would gladly sacrifice billions of human lives to save a few hundred of their kind. So why would one of these xeno risk its own life to save a single human? Shaking his head Lauf brings his hand against his head as it starts to ache. He was overthinking again. Grabbing one of the food pellets he keeps in his armour he tosses it into his mouth and swallows it, following it with a swig of water from a canteen a voidsman had left for him. As the water slides down his throat he thinks back at the battle with Ramses. This fight had been different from his first fight. Ramses had been on the defensive for most of the fight, unlike when he had attack his pack 20 years ago. He had gotten stronger. But he still wasn't strong enough. The minute the Sorcerer had unleashed his powers, Lauf had been knocked aside like an annoying fly. Gritting his teeth, Lauf calms himself from smashing the floor in frustration. Instead he thinks about the actions and what he needs to do to kill Ramses next time he fights him. Focusing on the battle he can feel his body twitch as if his muscles are moving the same way as when the fight occurred, memorizing the movements of each attack, parry, block and counter he had to use during the fight against the cowardly Sorcerer. Lauf had a habit to help memorize his fights by closing his eyes and sinking into a form of meditation. Instead of trying to let everything around him fall away as the astropaths do when they're trying to send a message, Lauf keeps his mind focused on the world around in case someone tried to sneak up on him. He keeps still as he feels his body finish twitching, letting him know that he will be ready to react if Ramses tries the same tricks next time he fights. He smiles as he thinks about hacking Ramses' arms off his body and cutting his legs free of his frame before he finally took his head to bring it back to the _Aett_ to show that he had avenged his pack in the eyes of his Jarl and lord of the Space Wolves, Logan Grimmar.

His daydreaming gets interrupted when he feels a tap on his shoulder pauldron but he knew who it was before he opened his eyes and gave a small smirk to Ashe as the young Celestian looked at the Space Wolf,

"My lord? May I sit beside you?" Ashe asks and Lauf nods without saying a word. Ashe slides down onto the ground and settles in beside him. Once she is comfortably in place she breathes a sigh of relief,

"We're going to suffer for losing the Forge World. Not just from the Orks ransacking the manufactorums. But our Canoness-Superior is not going to be pleased about the losses we took in failing to defend the world." She admits with shame, "Astra, Cassidy and I are going to have to answer for it." Lauf snorts in a dismissive tone at the comment,

"If your Canoness-Superior cannot see that you and the other forces currently alive here were not able to hold back this Ork invasion. She's a bigger fool than an Administratium bureaucrat." He grumbles disgusted by this story. In the short time he's known them these three Sisters have demonstrated a clear sense of duty and honour which reminded him of fellow Space Marines. Even with Sister Cassidy's love of explosions and violence, they are better warriors of the Emperor than the pyromaniac radicals that dominate the Sisters of Battle. His fists tighten as he remembers that one day years ago when he crippled those Sisters who had attempted to slaughter innocent civilians he had helped save. He had left those Sisters crippled and badly humiliated, but still alive. That felt like a lifetime ago as he looks at the Sister beside him who is looking up at his golden-amber eyes with her light green ones. Looking into those eyes Lauf feels a strange urge: He would not let anything or anyone harm this young woman or the other two with her even if he had to tear them apart with his fangs,

"The Emperor must have been watching over us. How else could it be that you have come to this Sub-sector to help us against these xenos monsters?" Ashe says with the resignation in her tone replaced with hope. Lauf sighs. He'll have to tell her the truth, but right now he just smiles and lets her believe that was the only reason why he was in this sub-sector. She relaxes against his shoulder when Astra and Cassidy poke their heads out from the side of the transport and smile at the sight. When Cassidy goes to speak Lauf shakes his head to tell her to keep quiet. The two of them look as tired as Ashe. Lauf motions with a small smile for them to join him and Ashe against the side of the transport,

"You both look exhausted. Come. Sit with us." Lauf offers as Cassidy looks at Astra who starts coming around the transport, causing Cassidy to fall down from having been using Astra's back as support. Casidy shakes herself out as she stands up and walks around after Astra. She settles down next to the older Sister as she rests on Lauf's other side. Cassidy looks at the Space Wolf as her sisters have already fallen asleep against him,

"Didn't think I'd see a time when a lord Space Marine would be used as part of a bedroll." Cassidy jokes, "Guess it's just another example of how you are unlike anything I've ever seen my lord." Lauf looks at her and grins,

"My brothers and I are unique. We are Vlka Fenryka, the Sons of Russ and guardians of Humanity. You hear tales of the Ultramarines and Blood Angels. Over-glorified snobs and strange blood-lusters." He spits on the ground, "They do not compare to my chapter and our dedication to the Emperor and his people." His proud boasts remind him of a speech Logan Grimnar had said to him before he had left, to remind him that he was first and foremost a Space Marine of the Emperor, not some warrior to be ordered around by an Administratium bureaucrat. Or some pup to be kicked about by an Inquisitor determined to slaughter innocents to protect against the 'infection of Chaos'. His speech makes Cassidy giggle slightly,

"Well my lord. If what we saw you achieve is an indication of your chapter as a whole. I shudder to imagine what it's like when all 1000 of your brethren gather together in a single battle." Lauf's grin only grows larger, causing Cassidy to look at him confused,

"You think there's only 1000 of us?" He leans closer and whispers the true number in her ear, causing her eyes to widen in shock and awe. She finds herself unable to speak as she looks at Lauf, causing him to laugh. The deep and cheerful laugh shakes the bone talismans embedded in the braids of Lauf's beard, making an almost eerie noise as the bone talismans rattle against each other and off his chest-plate. While Cassidy closes her eyes to the noise, Astra is awoken and she reaches up and gently holds one of them in her hand,

"You've gotten more of them since I remember Wolf." She smiles as she admires the one talisman in her hand, carved like the open mouth of a creature that resembles a hairy human, a Fenrisian ice fiend, "Where do you find the bones to carve these?" She had wondered where Lauf got the material for the talismans, or where he had the time to carve them. Astra looks up from the talisman to see Lauf grinning at her,

"I take the bones from dead enemies who were particularly memorable enough to allow me to remember my homeworld and all those I left behind." Lauf explains as he looks down at the talisman Astra had been examining, "This one came from an Ork freebooter who had thought that the freighter I was on was an easy target. He didn't realize that an entire contingent of guardsman abhumans were also on the ship heading to their new warzone. When the Orks locked their vessel to the freighter's hull it wasn't the Greenskins that rushed out into the freighter. It was the short guardsmen who rushed into the Ork ship. Never thought I'd see anyone have so much hatred for xenos as those guardsmen had for the Orks. Their captain charged in after his boyz trying to rally them. He was very determined but so was I." Lauf's grin grows as he holds the talisman up,

"This was taken from part of his neck where my axe separated his head from his body. Not much of a bone I know. But it was amusing to take this chunk of bone from that wound and carve this ice fiend to remind me of that day. When short humans actually made Orks appear gentle and soft in their love of violence." Lauf explains as he looks from the talisman to Astra while he lets the braid fall back down onto his chest plate while Astra adjusts her seat before resting back against him. As the three sleep on him Lauf looks down at his talismans. It had been awhile since he really thought about them and what they were. His fingers run along the surface of two talismans. One has a howling wolf carved on the front, while the back has the same wolf siting proudly. He had carved that one after the first battle he had during his hunt for Ramses. A time when he thought he would find the Sorcerer in under a year and return to the _Aett_ proudly carrying his head. Instead he has been hunting for twenty years across the entire Imperium and now he is so close. His thoughts move from the wolf to the second talisman in his hand. This one was made from the finger bone of an Eldar who tried to get the jump on him. To remind him to always watch out for such tricks in the future he had carved the face of a Fenrisian Ripper fish on the talisman. It helped him remember to watch his back and never take anything for granted because even the calmest sea hide nightmares. He smirks slightly as he runs his finger around the bone talismans before letting his hand drop down to his leg while he lets his own mind slip into sleep as his head droops forward while the three Sisters keep sleeping against him. As his mind drifts to sleep he has another strange dream.

In the dream he stands on an open field on Asaheim as wind blows snow in front of his face. While it blows he can see figures approaching him. They appear to be Space Marines and he prepares to grab his weapons on his hips. He calms down when he can smell that they are fellow Space Wolves even with the howling wind blowing across the land. He smiles when he realizes the scents from the Space Wolves approaching are the scents of his pack-mates. When they get close enough Lauf is surprised to see they are just the outlines of their bodies, appearing like ghosts of old Terra,

"Brothers….." Lauf says sadly as he looks at all of them. The dead men smile, "Don't go sobbing like some Dark Angel sop Lauf." Bjarke says as the big Bloodclaw folds his arms over his chest, "We're all gone and you won't be bringing us back. But we are still with you, even with Morkai coming to bring us to the land of the dead." He says while Lauf looks from Bjarke around to the other Bloodclaws standing before him. All his brothers smile at him even if they cannot actually greet him truly,

"I have tried to find vengeance for you all. Your murders were without honour and your murderer still walks free. I'm sorry I haven't put him in the ground yet." Lauf admits as his brethren all shake their heads,

"You try to do this on your own brother. But you're a Lone Wolf chasing a Bear. You know what happens when the wolf takes on the bear." Destin says in his philosophical way. A little too talkative for most Space Wolves, but Lauf tolerated his battle brother's philosophical quotes as he looks at him,

"Well brothers. I am all I have now. So there is no one else to hunt down the witch except me." "Not anymore Lauf." Destin's ghost smiles as the former Bloodclaws move around to leave some gaps. When the last gap is fully open some figures shorter than the Space Marines begin to come out from behind them. Before Lauf can see who the figures are he is awoken by someone shaking him,

"My lord. We're about to leave the Warp." Ashe's voice comes from beside him as he opens his eyes. Lauf sees Ashe, Astra and Cassidy all looking much better and well rested,

"How long have we been asleep Sister?" Lauf rubs one of his eyes as he starts to stand up letting his muscles stretch fully out,

"Several hours my lord. We were all quite tired it seems." Ashe admits. She had been surprised by how Lauf looked while he slept. When they had woken up the Sisters had all thought at first that Lauf had been awake the whole time they had slept. His steady posture and relaxed breathing had made them think this way until they had checked his eyes while he slept. It had surprised them how steady he was even as they fiddled with his eyelids to see his eyes,

"How long have you been awake Sister? See anything important?" Lauf asks as he stands up and stretches out the rest of his muscles. When he stands up Ashe blushed a bit thinking about how much the three of them intruded on Lauf sleeping. She hopes he does not know somehow about them flipping his eyelids open to see if he had been sleeping. It was a bit of an embarrassing thought that they had intruded in such a way on Lauf. But if he knew he did not show it. This just made Ashe blush a bit more in embarrassment while she shakes her head,

"No my lord. There hasn't been anything important that I've seen around here." She explains while she begins to walk around their sleeping spot back into the transport that will take them down to the world below. Lauf follows her when he can feel the cruiser begin to exit from the warp. The shift is always clear when the ship shakes and strains from the change between the Immaterium and material planes even with the Gellar fields active and protecting the ship. The cruiser stopped when it fully exits the warp, hovering above Grael Major while the captain communicates with the planetary governor over a vox channel on the bridge. While the captain is explaining why they have come here the hangar is a flurry of activity as the transports carrying the survivors of the battle on Secundus are reloaded for departure from the ship. The captain has no interest in keeping these soldiers on his ship any longer than he has to so they move as quickly as they can to get into the transports and leave the ship.

Lauf takes his seat again while Ashe, Astra and Cassidy all sit beside him as guardsmen load inside the transport. Lauf looks at the men and women of the guard. Their faces are worn, but their eyes still have the fire of resistance and determination in them. They may have been beaten, but they are not broken. They will stand and hold this world if they must give up their lives to do so. The looks they give him in return show respect for the Space Wolf, which he returns with an amused smirk while the transport's doors close shut as it lifts off the hangar floor. As soon as it was up the transport flies out of the cruiser with the other ships carrying the soldiers to Grael Major. Lauf watches as the guardsmen shake a bit from the travel through the atmosphere while he hardly moves from the rocking motion,

"Used to this my lord?" One of the guardsman asks as he tries to avoid being thrown out of his seat even with the restraining belts across his chest, "I have had a few trips on rough, shaky ships guardsman. Administratium bureaucracy is like that." Lauf's reply makes all the guardsmen in the transport burst into laughter as they all know the truth of his statement,

"They wouldn't know how to use everything they keep shoving in our faces. Even if it does occasionally helps us." One guardswoman says as she strokes the side of her plasma gun a little too happily. Her action gets a grin from Cassidy as she rubs the side of her own heavy bolter as the transport passes completely through the atmosphere and breaks through the cloud cover of the world. On the screen above them everyone in the transport is able to see the surface of Grael Major.

Grael Major, a world of several billion humans and abhumans. Capital and the most populated planet in the sub-sector. Despite having such a high population the world was a bit of an oddity. While it has three hive cities where the majority of the population dwells the rest of the planet is dominated by cities similar to 21st century Terra mega-cities and the remaining surface is still somewhat habitable due to not enduring the centuries or millennia of industrial output the Hives produce. A regular citizen of the Imperium would still be able to find sources of fresh water and farmable land outside of the cities. But within a few centuries that would likely change as the Hives grow ever larger and their demand for space to discard their waste increases. For now the guardsmen look as the vid-screen shows them one of the Hive cities rising into the clouds while spreading out to the south of its base is the true capital city named in honour of the Primarch Sanguinius and his sacrifice, Angel's Stand. The white and gold buildings of the city stand in stark contrast to the gritty and dirty hive behind it on the vid-screen. The gates of the city are protected by two giant statues in the shape of proud Space Marines with the emblems of the Blood Angels on their armour. Lauf does not know much about the world or its history, but from everything present he can imagine that it must have an important relation to the Blood Angels chapter and its Primarch. While none can compare to his gene-father Leman Russ, even Lauf has to admit that the Blood Angels are brave and noble warriors of the Imperium. He had encountered some of their chapter in his travels and he had been honoured to fight beside them.

He does not let his mind wander for long as he sees the vid-screen showing them approach the landing strip in the centre of Angel's Stand alongside the dozens of other transports from the cruiser. Lauf looks from the screen to the Sisters beside him. As they approach the landing he notices they all seem very tense and nervous. What was going on? Where they worried about suffering consequences for failing to protect Secundus? Surely their Canoness could not lay the blame for a defeat of multiple Imperial forces at their feet alone? Then again in Lauf's experience, too many of the Sisters of Battle are brutal fanatics who will burn a million people because they have not said the Emperor's prayer enough times in one day. The thought makes his blood boil, even more than when those Sisters had attempted to purge innocent civilians before his eyes. He was not going to let these girls suffer for that defeat,

 _Not if I can help it. The Sisters' leaders will learn one very important thing: You do not go threatening those a wolf cares about_. Lauf thinks to himself as the transport finally sets down on the landing zone in an open spot. When it finally sets down the doors on the transport open on both sides letting the guardsmen and Sisters step outside. They all gather their equipment and walk out of the transport following Lauf as he leaves and looks around at the strip. Lauf sees the guardsmen gathering together to go see the local commander to join his or her forces. The rest of the strip is filled with labour battalions gathering the supplies from some of the transports and start loading them on chimeras waiting on the far side of the strip,

"So I suppose this is goodbye my lord?" Ashe asks as she comes up beside Lauf as she looks around for some Sister chimera or rhino to take them back to their convent,

"So quick to get rid of me Sister?" Lauf asks before flashing all three of them a fang filled grin reassuring them that he will not be leaving them so quickly. This small action seems to make them all relax and a weight lift off their shoulders. As soon as they all relax they finally notice a rhino on one side of the strip with a pair of Sisters seemingly waiting for them,

"There's our ride." Cassidy comments as she lifts her heavy bolter up onto her shoulder while Ashe starts walking with Astra on one side and Cassidy on the other side of her. Lauf walks a bit behind the Sisters as they all head towards the waiting rhino. As they cross the strip a group of guardsmen walk in line beside them heading towards some chimeras parked in a line not far from the rhino while their sergeant makes comments about how they are walking, where they are looking and other minor things to keep their minds focused instead of wandering. Lauf smirks a little at the behaviour as they finally cross the strip and approach the rhino. As they do the two Sisters wearing the armour of the Order of Our Martyred Lady standing around the rhino approach the group,

"Celestian Ashe. You were not expected here for another few days. What is going on?" One Sister asks while the other looks at Lauf with her hand dangerously close to her bolter's trigger. Lauf glares at the sister as his hand rests on the hilt of his frost-sword warning the Sister to not even try to attack him or those with him. The standoff seems to last several minutes before Astra comes up to the other Sister,

"Lord Redclaw here helped us survive the withdrawal from Grael Secundus when the Orks conquered the world." Astra explains as the Sister glares at him before lowering her hand away from the bolter's trigger,

"Very well….. Lord Redclaw…. Thank you for aiding our Sisters against the Greenskins." The Sister who had been speaking with Ashe says, "Come with us. The Canoness will want to speak with all of you about what happened on Secundus." The way she speaks to Lauf about what will happen makes the back of his hair stand up while his hand grips the hilt of his weapons tighter. As the two sisters walk into the rhino towards the front Cassidy mouths to Ashe, "Another pair of fanatics from our convent coming to pick us up." Lauf read Cassidy's lips as he understands even these three Sisters recognize fanatics in their own order while all four walk into the Rhino and sit down. Once they are all inside and sat down the back of the rhino closes up and the engine revs to life. The Sister drives the rhino away from the landing area while the two talk with each other too quietly for Ashe, Astra and Cassidy to hear. Or for a regular Space Marine to hear them. But the geneseed of Leman Russ allows Lauf to hear the conversation and he feels a growl try to escape from his throat. To keep his eavesdropping quiet he holds the growl back as the Sisters continue talking,

"….Over two hundred Sisters from both our Order and the Argent Shroud went to Secundus. Barely forty return. And three have to thank a Feral Space Marine for their survival? How much of his savagery has rubbed off on them? Perhaps we should tell the Canoness?" "Don't say such things. The Canoness will decide their fates without input from you. But we should still watch and make sure that they don't start shitting all over the Convent and eating raw meat like the savages do. If I had my way this feral marine will be let out in this waste and can find his own way back to the city. But the Canoness will be displeased if we don't present him to her with this story." It would be so easy for Lauf to come up and break both of their necks for these comments. But he restrains himself from doing anything right now. But he memorizes their scents. When it came time to reckon their fates, he would remember them and would ensure that they did not escape.

He keeps this thought to himself and away from his face as the three Sisters chat happily around him. They are clearly happy to be back with members of their Order and they can give valuable information to their Canoness about what will be coming and how they can better prepare for it,

"Judging by the types of Orks we faced on Secundus. This is not yet become a full scale WAAAGH just yet. But if we give it time and allow it to conquer more planets. It will take substantial effort by the Imperium to completely destroy." Astra explains as she checks over her bolter. She was thinking on what she remembered from lessons they were all taught at the Convents in regards to Ork WAAAGHs and how they developed, "Please. All it'll take is my heavy bolter shredding the Ork warboss with a good burst of shells." Cassidy responds as she cleans and performs the proper rites of maintenance on her own heavy bolter. Both women are persistent in making sure their weapons' machine spirits are pleased with their devotions so that they will never fail them in battle. This devotion does cause Lauf to smirk slightly at their actions. The focus at least keeps them from knowing what the two Sisters in the front are talking about and preventing bloodshed from erupting within this Rhino.

While the two work on their weapons and the drivers mutter amongst themselves still thinking they are not being listened to Ashe opens a hatch on the top of the rhino and pokes her head out of it to watch the ground around it. The transport travels along a well-worn route that runs beside one of the few land-train rail-lines that go between the cities on this world across the worn terrain. She can see some pockets of green and 'undamaged' natural environment spread between the slowly growing ash wastes from the three Hive Cities. She admires the little green in between the gray and dull browns on the landscape. It stands as a nice reminder of what she feels all warriors of the Imperium should be fighting for: the beauty that is the human spirit in the galaxy. She blushes as she thinks how silly she is being by thinking about such things. It sounded like something an entitled noble discussing poetry with other entitled friends would say instead of a warrior such as herself.

Shaking her head to put such thoughts into the back of her mind where they currently belonged Ashe focuses instead on their destination, the Convent of the Order of Our Martyred Lady present on the world. The Convent serves as more than a barracks for the Sisters of Battle present on the world. It is also the centre for all operations of the Adepta Sororitas in the entire Sub-Sector. It has a large medicae where the Sisters Hospitallers treat the wounded of both the world and the Imperial Forces currently on the world. Thousands of wounded guardsmen have been sent there to get help from the Sisters there. That and the large barracks for the direct combat oriented Sisters make it a valuable fortress if and when the Orks arrive at Grael Major. Ashe smirks as she thinks on how the Orks will lose a lot of their number if they try to conquer the Convent. Her smirk remains while the rhino drives along the road towards the capital where the Convent is located. She is almost sure she can see the tower at the top of the Convent inside the city. Its sight makes her heart skip a few beats. It was home for her even if it had originally not been her choice to become a member of the Adepta Sororitas.

Ashe feels a small wet trail coming down the front of her cheek when she snaps herself out of her second little daydream. Lifting a finger up to stroke the wet trail Ashe brings the water up to under her nose where she can smell the tiny amount of salt every tear has. How long had it been since she had cried about what had happened? She had almost forgotten that fact as she focuses on the approaching city walls and her home Convent. She could not wait for an opportunity to show Lauf the whole inside of the Convent. Perhaps she could show him how not all members of the Sororitas are radical fanatics and can be responsible for incredible feats of humanity in their Convents and other actions around the Imperium. While her own Order of the Argent Shroud did not have its own Convent on the world, she and other members of her Order have been allowed to live within the Martyred Lady's Convent in their own section. When the rhino begins to enter the city and head towards the Convent her smile grows as its walls begin to rise up from between the buildings around it, standing out like a glittering jewel with its multiple colours of reds, golds, and blacks against the dull greys, browns and white of the various structures that surround it.

The Rhino drives up the street towards the gates of the Convent. The massive rockcrete doors lined with Adamantium have designs depicting Sisters of Battle burning away the enemies of the Imperium and above them in golden metal a depiction of the Emperor shines. The image glows with light reflecting from the sun making the mosaic of the master of Mankind appear as divine as the Ecclesiarchy says he is. Ashe watches as the rhino stops in front of the gates when they begin to open. As they open the glory of the Convent is clearly shown as the more than a dozen buildings within stand out against the walls with the giant central building that serves as barracks, administration centre, and prayer centre all in one right in front of them. The Sister at the wheel drives up to the front of the building and parks the Rhino in an open spot. Ashe excitedly drops down into the seating section of the rhino and looks at the scene.

Cassidy and Astra had finished their rites on their weapons and now were sitting patiently waiting to arrive at their Convent while Lauf sat with his hands resting against his knees with his eyes closed. But Ashe can see that while he appears to be sleeping, his whole body looks ready to spring to action in a second. Ashe gently nudges all three to get their attention,

"We're home." She says to Astra and Cassidy before looking at Lauf, "Now we can show you the true nature of our Order." She smiles proudly as she keeps looking at the Space Wolf who simply grunts a 'We'll see.' As he gets up and walks out of the opening ramp at the back of the Rhino as all the Sisters exit behind him. When they do Lauf can see the rows of wounded guardsmen that have been brought to this Convent for treatment. His eyes rest on the Sisters of the Order of Serenity, members of the Order Hospitaller moving around the cots treating the wounded as best they can. One of them appears to be a young girl with short blonde hair that almost reflects the sun along with her white uniform. This sister moves around one of the cots and starts to work on treating his belly wound with clear determination even though Lauf cannot see her face fully. He does not get a chance when Astra shakes his arm, silently asking him to follow her inside the open doors of the Convent's central building. Lauf looks at the doors and feels like he's walking into a Great White Bear's den as he climbs the steps up towards the entrance.

Following Ashe Lauf looks down the halls that break off from the main hall they are walking down. In one he spots a group of young girls following an older Sister to one of their classes they will need to become fully fledged Sisters in the Orders. They stop and stare when he passes, flashing them a toothy grin when he gets a good look at the girls. They all giggle and smile back at him before their watcher gives them a quiet scolding about making so much noise in the Convent stops their noisemaking. Lauf keeps quiet even as his grin remains while he walks behind Ashe with Cassidy and Astra behind him. They continue walking down the hall until they come to a circular area where large numbers of braziers burn around the room. When they enter Lauf sees the Canoness of this Convent and several Sisters waiting for them. Ashe and the others all approach and bow to the Canoness,

"Canoness Galolis. We have returned with good and bad news." Ashe says while she stays bowing in front of Galolis. Lauf watches the Canoness closely. The woman has white hair that unlike many of the Sisters is not her natural hair colour. Instead Lauf can see from the scars and wrinkles on her skin that the white hair on Galolis is due to age instead of duty. She has soft blue eyes that give away no emotion or feelings as she looks from Lauf to the girls before her feet,

"Rise Celestian Ashe. Tell me what happened on Grael Secundus. And why you come to our Convent with a….." She looks at Lauf, "Space Marine?" Ashe looks at Lauf, "Canoness. The Forge World has fallen. Our fellow Sisters and the Imperial guard were not able to hold back the Orks. Even with assistance from the Imperial Titan and lord Lauf. If it was not for their help, we would all have died there…." "That's a change." A new voice speaks up as a scent comes to Lauf's nostrils and he growls. Eleven Sisters of Battle come out of the hallways behind the Canoness. Every one of them has a vicious scar or bionic limb. In the middle is the one Sister he has never forgotten, Seraphim Riviel. The sight of these Sisters with their weapons at the ready makes him draw his own weapons and stare at them,

"This savage has spent years interfering with the divine duties of the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition. He should be executed as the Heretic he is." Riviel spits as the Sisters all stand ready,

"Last time you threatened me you left less women than you started. This time I won't make the same mistake of letting you live." Lauf warns. He had shown mercy because he felt they had been too foolish to be blamed for their fanaticism. Now he feels that was a mistake. The air in the room feels heavy and thick when movement comes from the corner of his eye and the sound of a bolter firing breaks the silence.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	14. Steel and Sight

Sister Letuah had hated the last twenty years of her life. Since she followed Seraphim Riviel and faced that savage she had spent all this time fuming. He had cut off her right arm with one swing and left her with this horrible bionic limb that throbbed and ached every single day. Each night she went to sleep she dreamed about that Space Wolf and begging the holy God Emperor to give her a chance to get her revenge. Now she stands in the Convent of Grael Major looking at the very Space Wolf who had harmed her and her fellows when they had attempted to pursue their duties. Every second they stand there and let the Space Wolf and Riviel argue makes her angrier. Why are they talking with this savage? He should be executed right here and now. Instead they are waiting for this weak-willed Canoness to say something. Silently thanking the Emperor for giving her chance she moves forward,

"DIE HERETIC!" She shouts as she raises her bolter and fires one round. She does not get a chance to fire another round when a Frost Sword suddenly comes forward and goes into her chest. The energy on the blade splits her armour, tears open her skin, cuts between the muscle and fat and smashes through the middle of her sternum. It slides into the small gap of space between her bones before it starts to move through her still beating heart. When it starts to cut the organ a loud hissing sound comes out of the wound as the blood boils against the energy the Frost Sword emits. Letuah coughs up blood as she feels the sword continue to slide through her heart until it hits the back of her ribs. It stays there only for a moment before it comes out her back. She can only look into the golden eyes of the savage while he has a flat look on his face as her life slips away.

All this happened in the flash of an eye while Lauf lets go of his sword and quickly grabs the dying fanatic's bolter. Spinning around he aims the bolter at one of the Sisters he wounded twenty years ago. Pulling the trigger he lets a burst of bolter rounds slam into her chest before she can even raise her own bolter. The two sisters next to him raise their bolter and melta gun to shoot at him. He throws his axe at the one with the melta gun. A howling sound comes from the blade as it cuts through the air, sounding like the harshest wind off of Fenris' tallest mountains. The sound causes the two Sisters to freeze in surprise as the axe buries itself into the middle of the melta carrying Sister's face. The weight of the axe and the force that Lauf threw it pulls the Sister off her feet and into the wall behind her. As Lauf runs towards the second Sister as she tries to raise her bolter he pulls his sword out of the first body and swings at the third. The Sister with a bionic leg tries to shoot but the Space Wolf does not give her a chance as he cuts her head clean off. The skull rolls on the floor in front of him as he spins around, grabbing his axe. He charges towards the next Sister. By now the eight had their weapons up and start to fire at Lauf as he charges towards Riviel. He was going to take that bitch's head as he slams into her like a charging bull. Hitting her around the waist he knocks her to the ground and brings his sword down towards her throat. The blade comes to within an inch of her skin before a loud and commanding voice shouts, "ENOUGH!" Lauf stops moving as he holds his sword at Riviel's throat while he looks up.

The room has filled with over thirty Sisters of Battle all holding flamers and bolters aimed at both the fanatics and Lauf while the Canoness looks at them,

"Lord Redclaw. You have spilled blood in my convent. I should have you killed…." She motions with a hand as two of the new Sisters walk over and put a hand on each of his shoulders, "But I will spare your life if you leave my convent right now." She says while Lauf pushes the hands off before he stands up, glaring at Riviel. He puts his weapons back onto his hips and starts walking out of the room, escorted by the two Sisters at his back. He stops at the door and looks back at the Canoness,

"What are you going to do with these Sisters?" He asks while he looks at Ashe, Astra and Cassidy as some of these new Sisters stand around them, "They will be dealt with for their actions and their failure. It will be handled in my Order and you will not interfere. Now leave Lord Space Marine before my generosity is spent." Emphasizing the point one of the Sisters behind him pushes her bolter's barrel against Lauf's back. As he glances one last time at the three Astra gives him a smile,

"We'll be alright and we'll see each other again… big brother." She says reassuringly as she, Ashe and Cassidy all follow the Sisters guarding them down the hallways around the room. Lauf holds a growl as he walks out towards the exit with the two Sisters following him to make sure he does not try to go back to go after them. He knows it is foolish to try and take them on right now. No matter how much it infuriates him he understands the need to be patient.

 **Walking out** of the Convent Lauf gets one last chance to see the wounded being treated by the Medicae. Once again he sees the young blonde haired girl treating a really badly wounded guardsman. A man almost twice as large the girl. As he complains about his broken leg and tries to make her move, Lauf's eyebrows rise as he watches the little medicae put her hands on the man's shoulders and force him to lie back down on his bed before she starts to treat his leg, much more calmly now as he stops struggling against her efforts. He feels a modicum of respect for her as he moves towards the doors of the Convent. As soon as he steps outside the Sisters close the doors behind him. As the great doors close tight he sets off away from the complex. He was not abandoning those Sisters. He just needed to figure a way to get in there and rescue them.

 **As he** walks through the streets he finds himself wandering towards another landing area in the capital city. When he arrives it looks completely deserted except for a few arvus lighters taking goods around the planet. But his ears begin to ring and he looks up to see what is causing the ringing. As he looks up the clouds in the sky split open to reveal hundreds of transports descending towards the planet. They range in size from simple Valkyries to massive cargo landers capable of carrying super heavy tanks. Lauf grins at the sight of Imperial might.

 _Those transports easily carry tens of thousands of guardsmen. If they are here to fight the Orks will have a real fight on their hands._ Lauf thinks to himself as the first transports begin to land. The doors open and guardsmen wearing the mustard yellow trench-coats and dark brown boots, gloves and rebreathers of the Armageddon Steel Legion surge out. The Emperor could not have sent better Ork killers if the stories Lauf had heard of the Second War of Armageddon were true. There the Steel Legion had fought hard in spite of the incompetent planetary governor who did perhaps more than anyone else to cripple the Imperial fighting efforts on that world against the largest Ork WAAAGH seen in millennia. Lauf watches as the guardsmen form up in rows where their sergeants walk up and down checking on their soldiers while all their vehicles roll out of their transports onto the landing area. As chimeras roll onto the ground, guardsmen squads quickly file into them until each is occupied and then drives away to join the gathering line of guardsmen vehicles waiting to leave the city to go wherever they are destined to on the planet's surface. He looks at the steady flow of men, material and transports arrive and leave while trying to locate the commander of these guardsmen. As he walks around looking for the commander he passes by a group of Ogryns leaving their transport. The abhumans step aside to let the Space Wolf keep travelling while showing respect in their own way as they bang their ripper guns against their chests. Lauf returns the respect by putting his clenched fist against his chestplate and bows his head slightly as he walks through the guardsmen forces. Once he passes through the Ogryns Lauf spots a guardsman standing different from the other soldiers beside a giant shadowsword.

The guardsman wears the regular clothing of the Steel Legion making him seem to be the same as any of the soldiers walking around the landing area. What draws Lauf's eyes to him is the grinning skull design of his rebreather mask identifying him as an officer. But the most remarkable thing that makes Lauf certain this man is the commander is that a battle-hardened commissar stands next to the man and seems to voice things every time the officer speaks to the troops around them. Most often it is barking out for soldiers to pick up their pace and get moving to complete their duties. As he walks towards the officer and his commissar an idea begins to form in Lauf's mind. It's a crazy and foolhardy one and has no chance in the entire galaxy of actually being successful. But still he will try to see if his idea will be even taken up by this officer. First and foremost he should introduce himself and learn who this man is. When he gets close to the two men the commissar taps his officer's shoulder and motions towards Lauf. The two turn to face Lauf and bow respectfully to him,

"Lord Space Marine. This is a surprise. And an honour." The officer states. Lauf nods to him, "Yes it is…." He looks at the man's shoulders where he can see the Steel Legion identification marks of a Major, "Major. And your arrival is quite the blessing from the Allfather. We have a bit of an Ork problem here." "We know." The commissar explains, "These Orks are a splinter group from the giant WAAAGH which had invaded our homeworld and started the First War for Armageddon." Lauf looks at them. Of course they would not know about the real First War for Armageddon. When the Space Wolves under Great Wolf Logan Grimnar fought alongside the soldiers of their world, first against the forces of Chaos under the command of the mad Primarch Angron. Then against the Inquisition who wanted to purge the entire planet and its population for Chaos taint. That war ended with the Space Wolves facing off with the Inquisition over their homeworld and could very well resulted in an Imperial Civil War had the cool mind of Bjorn the Fell-handed stopped Jarl Grimnar from continuing the fight with the Inquisition. Those tales are still spoken with a mix of pride and anger in the halls of Aett. Pride for their actions during that time. Anger at how many people they were unable to save from the Inquisition.

Right now was not the place to correct the Major's claim about the war, Lauf simply nods in understanding, "So here we are now my lord. And we are going to smash the Orks before they can get fully stuck into the forge world." "I might suggest an alternative Major." Lauf says, interrupting the Major's line of thinking, "By now the Orks will have begun tearing apart the machinery of the world to make their ramshackle vehicles. Going to attack them will not succeed in destroying them. They are too concentrated and high on their supposed victory right now. A better course of action would be to establish your soldiers on this world. Ideally near this city as it is the capital and will most likely be the primary target for the Orks. You can establish your defences and prepare to greet them with as much firepower as you can muster here. Plus you'll have the home advantage while the Orks will be busy trying to establish a foothold." Lauf was no brilliant strategist but he had spent enough time traveling after Ramses that he had faced Orks quite a few times and learned about their strengths and weaknesses. And how to exploit each. Of course he still could not hold a candle to Jarl Grimnar's experience and he's not going to try. But he can at least provide this officer some experienced advice to take under suggestion,

"Sir?" The commissar looks at the Major who seems deep in thought, "Spread the word Commissar. I want defensive positions dug around the Hive. All avenues for an Ork invasion to be sighted and prepared for them. By the time the greenskins arrive I want them to be greeted by a hail of lead and las-fire." The Major says calmly and quietly. The Commissar snaps to attention and salutes, "Yes sir!" He turns around and starts to bark out orders to the guardsmen around the landing area while the Major reaches up and starts to undo the buckles of his rebreather and helmet.

Lauf watches as the Steel Legionnaire takes his helmet and rebreather off and hold them to his side. Lauf looks over the Major's face. For a man from a world as polluted and industrialized as Armageddon he looks quite healthy with pitch black hair and white skin. Lauf's attention is drawn to the man's deep silver eyes, something he's never actually seen before. Lauf looks at the Major as he looks back at him,

"What is your name Major?" Lauf asks as the guardsman smiles, "Major Klaus Korren. Though most of my officers call me Kaz." Kaz states as Lauf nods, "Well Major Kaz. I know you and your soldiers just arrived. But I need to request your aid." As he speaks Kaz cocks his head to one side, "Oh? Well what aid do you need my lord?" Lauf leans closer and whispers his request to Kaz. Kaz listens until Lauf stops relaying his plan to him before he looks at him,

"You really think that will work my lord? It sounds quite crazy….. even for a Space Marine." Kaz admits his uncertainty about the plan, "It will fail if we don't try anything Major Korren. And it will only succeed if I can count on your assistance." Lauf says before Kaz can continue speaking. He knew the plan he detailed to Kaz was a long shot,

"This is crazy. Unlikely to succeed and completely bordering on treason…." Kaz says before he smiles, "Fortunately, we of the Steel Legion make our legends on crazy and unlikely to succeed plans. Commissar Mackensen! Get me Sgt Whittman and his team!" Kaz calls out to his commissar who salutes and walks away to find this sergeant. Kaz looks at Lauf as the Space Wolf watches the guardsmen move around them,

"Sgt Whittman and his crew are an odd bunch. But they are the perfect force for helping you in your mission." Kaz explains while Lauf sees a chimera driving very quickly towards them. He sees a woman on top of the open hatch of the turret cheering as the chimera drives fast towards them. It almost flies up the ramp in front of Lauf and Kaz.

Just when it looks like the driver is about to hit the two the chimera or APC quickly cuts to the right, kicking up a pile of dust that engulfs Lauf and Kaz while the transport stops within a foot of the pair. When the dust finally settles back down Lauf looks at the soldiers who climbed on top of the chimera. One man wearing the uniform of a sergeant and smoking a Lho-stick must be Sgt Whittman. The sergeant has a scar just above his right eye that splits his dirty brown eyebrow just to the left of its centre

"Sorry about that sir. Didn't mean to smoke you there." Sergeant Whittman says as he continues to smoke his lho-stick, "Sure you didn't sergeant. My lord. May I present Sgt Whittman and his team?" Kaz looks from Lauf to Whittman as the sergeant takes his lho-stick out of his mouth and bows slightly to Lauf,

"My lord. Sergeant Whittman. Though most of my crew call me Fumes." "Cause you're constantly spewing them Sarge." The woman in the turret was the one who spoke up as she rests her head on top of the twin heavy bolters using her arms as a cushion, "And these ones smell worse than the ones coming out of an old Leman Russ." She says with a chuckle as 'Fumes' turns and looks at the woman,

"At least I don't whoop for joy when I fire my weapon Lazie." He answers while 'Lazie' gives a fake frown, "Awe sarge. You hurt me so." The man next to Lazie looks up from a pouch he is working on at the woman,

"If Fumes actually hurt you Lazie you would be turning those rattle-bangers on him without a moment's hesitation." Lazie snaps her head and glares at the man, sending daggers with her eyes at him, "That calm looking fellow is called Smoke. He can fix up your vehicle in one moment and blow it up the next." Fumes explains in between puffs of his lho-stick. All three soldiers have signs of living in a Hive City with the pale skin and some evidence of pollution poisoning around the corners of their eyes and lips. Otherwise they are quite healthy and cheerful as Lauf looks from them to the last member of the chimera crew. A long-las rifle set across his lap tells him that he is a sniper but the thing that draws Lauf's eyes is the large, bulbous nose that comes out of the short human's face. It almost seems too large for his face as he gives a toothy grin to Lauf, showing a pair of missing teeth,

"The Ratling's name is Nose. For obvious reasons. He's a damn fine sniper, but watch his hands. He'll rob you blind if he can." Fumes comments as Nose snorts, "Hey Sarge. You know that was never intentional. Those things just happened to fall into my lap." "And I had to fill out a dozen forms to keep the Commissar from putting a bolter round in your head Nose. So don't deny it right now." The four all laugh at their snipe barbs in between each other as Kaz starts to put his rebreather and helmet back on,

"I trust this team will help you my lord. If there is nothing else I will take my leave now." He says as he finishes attaching his rebreather before he starts to walk down the ramp, "Major." Kaz turns around to see Lauf bringing up his frost axe from his hip and slams it against his chest, "May the Allfather watch over you." Kaz smiles and snaps a salute to Lauf, "May the God-Emperor guide your hand my lord." Kaz responds before he leaves. As soon as the Major is out of sight Lauf looks back at the team,

"So my lord. What's the plan?" Fumes asks, "Gather round gentlemen, lady. You're going to help me resuce three innocent people." Lauf explains as he begins to lay out his plan to the four. The plan makes Lazie smile as crazy as before while Fumes and Smoke nod calmly. Nose chuckles as he pats his long-las,

"This sounds like it's going to be fun my lord." Nose's comment gets nods of approval from the other guardsmen, "Perhaps Nose. But the important thing is getting these innocent girls out of that convent alive. So if you can succeed in your part of the plan it will mean that this mission succeeding will be much more certain." Lauf says. While he wants to be as confident as the guardsmen right now he was more concerned with making sure that he will be able to succeed in his plan without any real bloodshed, "Well boys. Let's get loaded up." Fumes states as he tosses the remnant of his lho-stick to the ground then stomps on it, putting it out. Lauf watches the sergeant do this while the rest of his crew climb inside the chimera, Lazie closing her turret hatch as Smoke and Nose climb down through hatches in the top of the transport. Once all the crew is inside Fume stands half-out of the transport and looks at Lauf,

"My lord." Lauf walks to the back of the APC and moves inside as the ramp closed behind him. Once it had closed fully Lauf sits down on one of the many open seats before he looks around at the inside just as he hears the engine rev while Fumes steps on the gas. The chimera had been slightly retrofitted to better accommodate this team and their own work. Instead of the seats to fit more than two dozen guardsmen there was a couple of bunk-bed cots on one side and large amounts of supplies inside webbing attached to the top of the sides. Lauf sees he is sitting on one of only ten seats inside the back of the chimera. The amount of work they must have gone through to make these changes to their transport would no doubt impress Lauf if he bothered to ask this story. On one side of the door leading to the driver section of the chimera Lauf notices there are little marks carved into the wall in sections of five with the fifth line running diagonally through the other four in the group along with a small gap in between the groups of lines. Lauf sees there are a quite a few of these marks on the wall and he looks at Smoke who is sitting on top of the highest bunk in the area. The guardsman looks up from a set of explosives he is busy working on next to his leg to see Lauf motioning with a nod of his head towards the marks on the wall. Smoke glances at the marks and smiles,

"That's Lazie's score-board my lord. She likes to keep score of every big target she shreds with her twin-bolters." Smoke explains just as Lazie ducks down from inside the turret, "Someone call me?" "No Lazie. We're just talking about your ridiculous score-board." Smoke says nonchalantly while he goes back to working on the explosives,

"Well thanks so much…." Lazie grumbles at Smoke before she looks at Lauf and smiles, "Impressed my lord?" "For a normal human guardswoman? Yes, quite impressive." Lauf grins as Lazie's face gets slightly red in frustration, "Hardy har har. Very funny my lord. Well I bet you can't compare to this number of victories?" "Actually guardswoman. That's an afternoon for me." Lauf smirks at Lazie's surprised look before she grumbles some more and stands back up inside the turret. As soon as Lazie is back comfortably inside the turret Lauf keeps looking around the chimera and see any other improvements the guardsmen have made to it. Lauf wonders who gave them permission to do this modification in the chimera and a smile creeps on his lips after it subsided while talking with Lazie. From what he gathered after just meeting him no doubt the Major had something to do with these modifications being approved.

He does not think about it long as the chimera drives through the city as fast as some of the other vehicles moving along the streets. Fumes turns down one side-street near the walls of the convent and stops,

"My lord. We're here." Fumes comes through the door behind his seat, "Thank you sergeant. Now we begin." Lauf looks at them and they all nod.

 **Sister Dorael** had seen a bit today. First some Sisters who had been sent away to Secundus return to tell them they lost so many to the Orks ravaging that world. And they came with a Space Wolf. Then that same Wolf cut down several of their Convent in less than a minute. Now she stands in front of her convent's gate with her fellow guard Sister watching four drunken guardsmen arguing about something ridiculous that only they understand. The amount of noise they are making is drawing Sisters from all around the wall who are supposed to be on guard duty. Normally she would simply burn these foolish humans for their lack of faith hence why they need to fall into drink rather than devote prayers to the God-Emperor. But the crowd they were gathering made that difficult simply because their Canoness had given orders that the civilians of this world were not to be purged without clear 'evidence' of corruption,

"And I told you. When I gave the bottle away it was half-empty." Slurred Smoke to Lazie who was holding a dark bottle that sloshes liquid, "But I when I got it, it was half-full." Lazie responds before she takes a drink from the bottle, "Oh. Well I'm sure something…. Must 'ave happened to it." Smoke has to rest himself against Lazie barely conscious as every time a Sister of Battle tries to break up the four drunks they seem to simply push her away and continue on their ramblings. Dorael holds her bolter to one side as she watches the guardsmen continue in this display of their pathetic natures. In spite of its foolishness and lack of decency, the drunkards are gathering a crowd of regular civilians from the surrounding buildings. The drunk Ratling of the four keeps moving around the crowd with his hands reaching up and almost grabbing many women before getting shoved or slapped for almost touching them. The actions makes a few of the Sisters smirk as they enjoy the disgusting ratling get injured, even in this small way. The display continues as the crowd begins to block out the view for the Sisters of the buildings around the gate to the Convent.

With all the eyes around the gates focusing on the four drunks in the street nobody notices some movement climbing up the wall further down the convent as Lauf sneaks inside. Once he gets over the wall Lauf jumps down to the ground. Landing with a quiet but large THUD Lauf stops for a second and smells the air. He quickly picks up the scents of the three Sisters. He starts to run in the direction where the scent is coming from the strongest in the Convent. As he runs around a corner of a building near where he landed over the wall he bolts back behind the building as a group of Sisters come running down the path towards the doors. They rush to go disperse the crowd that had grown to a problematic level for the Canoness and she was not going to stand around and let the crowd get out of control. Lauf holds very still as the Sisters run past the building he is hiding beside. They run so quickly that none of them notice him hiding there. Lauf carefully counts the Sisters who run past,

"10,12,14,16….24. Quite a few to simply disperse a crowd?" Lauf thinks out loud for a second before he quickly checks around the corner to make sure there is not another group running down the path in his direction. Seeing the path is clear he comes around the building and returns to running towards the location where the three Sisters' scent is coming from. Any regular Astartes would be able to track them down with their enhanced senses, but Space Wolves' senses are better than their counterparts. This was coming into use as Lauf moves through the outside of the Convent avoiding the Sisters in the grounds. Most are armed and armoured heading towards the entrance. Clearly the four guardsmen are doing a very good job of keeping them distracted, _Allfather. Please watch over and keep them from suffering because I asked for their help._ Lauf sends his silent prayer to the Allfather while his fingers wrap around the talisman he normally wore on his chest up to his chin. He had removed all the talismans he normally wore in his beard to stop the noise they normally make while he was sneaking through the Convent. Running up to the side of the main building Lauf starts to climb up the wall to reach the location where the girls are being held. His heavy weight makes it a slow and somewhat loud climb but still nobody seems to notice him inside the walls. Slowly getting up to the roof of the first floor of the Convent Lauf pulls himself up to look inside one of the large stained-glass windows. Inside he can see the Canoness talk with several of her Celestians. They were trying to decide what to do about the Orks who had arrived in the Sub-Sector. Some argued they should hunker down inside the Convent and fortify it as best they can. Others demanded that they go take back the Forge World. They could demand the Imperial Creed be taught there in return for conquering the world back for the Imperium and the Adeptus Mechanicus, _We're still busy trying to prepare this planet to resist the Orks when they arrive. And these Sisters are making plans that go completely against the Major's plans. At least the Canoness, as fanatical as she is, is pragmatic enough to see that right now attacking the Orks would leave this Sub-Sector completely open for invasion._ Lauf thinks while he carefully moves along the roof with the scent of the three growing stronger with each step he takes along the roof.

Taking another step a loud CRACK precedes Lauf falling forward as his leg breaks through part of the roof where poor maintenance had allowed a beam to rot enough that Lauf's foot falls through it. He stops when his hip hits the roof and he hangs there. Looking down Lauf grunts as he tries to free his leg from its prison as quietly as possible. Bits of masonry and building fall down to the floor underneath him as Lauf struggles to get his leg out of the hole when a snapping sound and the scent of fresh blood draws his attention from the hole to a walled courtyard at the back of the main Convent building. Looking at what is inside the courtyard makes his temper flare and his grip to tighten on the elevated chunk of roof in front of him so much that a crack forms in it. The courtyard has three poles lining the wall with several sets of manacles coming out of each at different levels. One set of the manacles are locked around the wrists of Ashe, Cassidy and Astra as the three are forced to stand up while they are flogged across the back by a Mistress of Repentance with her Neural whips. Each strike from these terrible weapons cleave the flesh and split the muscle tissue open while making the young Sisters shout/scream in agony. With each strike the Mistress of Repentance comments that with the pain the three repent their sins to the Order before she swings her whips and strikes all three again, bringing another scream from the girls. Watching this infuriates Lauf. It was his actions that caused the girls to suffer like this. With a loud grunt he pulls his leg free just as the mistress coils her whips back over her shoulders. He can hear her say that they will stay here to reflect and continue their repentance as the Sisters who stood watching all turn and leave the courtyard. The three chained Sisters are all that remain in the courtyard, panting as sweat and blood trickle into pools at their feet.

 **Ashe** put her head against the post as tears fell down her cheeks. The sting of its salt on her cheeks took away the sting from her still bleeding back. This had been doubly humiliating. First she, Cassidy and Astra had been stripped of their ranks and armour. Then they were paraded through the Convent to the repentance posts where they now stayed until the Canoness decided they could come off. Until she said so they would have to stay and suffer the pain of their whip wounds,

"Celestian?" Astra's voice comes from her left, "Are you still conscious?" Ashe breathes in deep to calm herself down before answering, "Yes Astra. I am. Cassidy?" "Yeah I'm still awake. Wish I wasn't though. That repentance women can get SO annoying." Cassidy's remark gets painful chuckles from the other two, "Anyone see a way to get these manacles off? They're not really my colour and they're making my shoulders ache." Ashe glances over at Cassidy. She has two bleeding whip marks going diagonally down her shoulders to the centre of her back, creative a V shape. Both look to be down into the muscle tissue as every time Cassidy tries to move to get herself more comfortable the pain of her shoulders moving slightly made her freeze. All of them had endured incredible pain during their training to become Sisters of Battle. But even that paled compared to the pain she felt in her back at the moment,

"No Cassidy. I don't see them coming off anytime soon." Astra admits as the older woman sighs. Just as Ashe was about to resign herself to waiting for the Canoness' attention there is a soft thud as if something fell behind them. Turning her head as best she can Ashe looks to see where the noise came from. At first nothing seems out of the ordinary in the courtyard before a flash of dull blue and red draws her eyes up to the side of the Convent,

 _Wasn't there a statue right there just a moment ago?_ Ashe wonders. She was sure that an empty space on the wall had a statue. Before she has a chance to think about it too much there is another thud sounding behind them. This one was much heavier than the first and even made the girls bounce a little bit. Ashe cannot see what the noise was from as it came from a angle she could not turn her head but she suddenly feels a presence behind her. Thinking it was the Mistress of Repentance coming back to begin whipping them again she mentally braces for the pain when a large armoured hand suddenly rests itself on her shoulder, followed by a gentle whisper of "Forgive me. All of you." Ashe feels tears of happiness fall. The Space Wolf Lauf had come back, "There is nothing to forgive my lord." She manages to say, her throat now hoarse from the heat and lack of water, "Don't move." Lauf says as he draws his frost sword. The blade hums lightly as the energy flows around it. With one swing he cuts the hinge holding the manacles around Ashe's wrists. When she starts to fall forward Lauf's free hand quickly comes out. It comes underneath her chest and holds her from hitting the pole,

"Not having you pass out on me yet." Lauf comments before he carefully lowers Ashe down to the ground. Once he makes sure she is in a position that won't hurt her wounds he makes his way over to Cassidy and Astra. He repeats the process with the two of them before bringing all three together. Once they are all comfortable he looks around for a way out. Seeing nothing at first he pulls a small vox bead out of a pocket on his armour and puts it into his ear. Letting it buzz and crackle before it settles he makes sure he can be clearly heard,

"Sgt Fumes. We're in the back courtyard and need a way out." Lauf says quickly and to the point into the vox. If the guardsmen can figure a way for them to escape it would make things a lot easier. His thoughts about how to escape get stopped when a chimera bursts through the side wall into the courtyard,

"Seems this wall was less sturdy than the Sisters thought." Fumes calls as he opens the front hatch in the chimera, bits of stone and brick falling off either side, "Well come on my lord! We don't want to be here when the reception party comes out!" Lauf does not need the sergeant's warning to start. He carefully picks Astra up first and runs to the back of the transport while Smoke and Nose pick up Cassidy between them. Setting Astra down carefully in a bunk Lauf runs back out to get Ashe. He reaches her just as a group of Sisters fully armed and armoured run out into the courtyard to see what caused the noise. Their eyes turn to Lauf. Seeing what he is doing they shout,

"HERETIC!" They all raise their weapons to start firing when the ground in front of them shoots up when a burst of heavy bolter fire creates a makeshift smokescreen of dust and dirt. Lazie chuckles as she keeps firing into the ground before the Sisters, "Get moving lord Space Wolf! We don't have all day!" She shouts over the rattle of the turret. Lauf scoops Ashe up, careful to not touch her injuries before he turns around and races back to the chimera. Climbing inside he hits the button to close the back of the transport before he puts Ashe down on another bunk underneath Cassidy and next to Astra. Before the backdoor had fully closed Fumes put the chimera into reverse and pushed it out of the courtyard, spinning around on the street and pushing his foot against the engine-pedal. The chimera speeds down the street away from the Convent even as some of the Sisters run out of the hole in their wall and try to shoot after them. Some shots bounce off the sides of the chimera but none come close to something important. Laughter erupts from the guardsmen as they applaud each other for successfully deceiving the Sisters. Their cheers and self-congratulations bring a smile to Lauf as he keeps watching the three lying on the cots. Their wounds continue to bleed and throb. If he doesn't get them to proper medical attention he doubted they would live as no doubt infection was already setting into the whip marks.

A rustle of a tarp next to him draws Lauf's attention as he quickly pulls his sword back off his hip. Motioning for silence he walks over to the tarp as quietly as he can. Standing next to it Lauf reaches down and grips the tarp. With one motion he pulls the tarp away and thrusts his sword at whatever was hiding underneath. Lauf stops his attack when his eyes meet the sapphire blue eyes of the young medicae he had seen treating the wounded in the Convent. Instead of cowering in fright at the sight of the frost sword, the barely thirteen years old young girl looked at him defiantly and without fear. Lauf pulls his sword back and puts it back on his hip,

"How did you get in here whelp?" He demands as the girl stands up, "I watched the four guardsmen get beaten up and wanted to see if I could leave some medical supplies for them." She says. Lauf had noticed how the four had various injuries. Fumes had a black eye, Lazie's lip was split and puffed up, Smoke was bleeding from a cut on his chin and Nose's namesake had swollen to almost one and a half its regular size, bleeding down his face, "But now I see there is something much bigger for me to deal with." As if she did not even think about having a frost sword at her neck she goes over to the bunks. There she cuts the cloths covering the three girls' backs and pulls out a large satchel filled with medical supplies. Lauf steps back as the girl starts to clean the injuries, holding the girl she's working on down even as she screams and struggles from the pain of the tonics she is applying to their whip wounds. Lauf sits down and watches the young medicae work while the chimera speeds through the streets.

Kaz stands on the side of the landing area beside his command shadowsword. The powerful super-heavy tank had special upgrades when he got it that made it different from other shadowswords he had encountered. He had no idea why this was but he cannot think about this now. His regiment had almost completely arrived on the world and the first forces that had come down on the planet were already moving out to set up positions outside the main Hive City. He's shaken out of thinking about the plans for defending the worlds of the Sub-Sector when Fumes' chimera runs up the street between two Valkyrie transports. It comes to a stop in front of the Major and Fumes pops out of his hatch,

"Our mission is a success sir!" He says proudly as Kaz eyes the black eye, "I don't want to know sergeant." He comments while the back door lowers. Kaz sees Lauf exit the transport before flagging down some guardsmen medics and sisters medicae over to the chimera. Once they are inside he turns away and walks towards Kaz,

"My lord. Were you successful?" Kaz asks while Lauf nods. He had not told Kaz exact specifics about his plan so if someone comes demanding an account he can honestly say he has no idea what they're talking about. But right now he had a lot on his mind. Not only were these three now his responsibilities, they had been stripped of their equipment by their order so they were not very good in a fight, especially with these terrible injuries. Thinking he tried to come up with an idea how to deal with that issue when his eyes are drawn to one transport behind Kaz. Sitting in the shadows would hide him from most eyes Lauf can still see him in his pitch-black stealth suit as he casually loads a turbo-penetrator round into a magazine for his Exitus rifle set beside him. The Vindicare Assassin stays silent as he continues loading his magazines but his presence makes Lauf smile, _Now this will make things interesting….._ He thinks before he looks towards the Hive City. He had no idea how long they would have before the Orks arrived. Allfather willing they would be ready when the greentide came.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	15. Children of the Wolves

**665.952 M41.** Segmentum Tempestus, Sub-Sector Grael, Grael Major, Hyflala zone. Two months after the fall of Grael Secundus the Armageddon Steel Legion who had arrived on the planet had turned the only approach capable of taking large numbers of vehicles traveling into a giant killing-zone. Millions of mines, kilometres of trenches, artillery positions, turrets, and countless other death traps had been established there. All other routes to the city had been prepared with as many weapons and anti-infantry traps that would shred a horde of Orks coming towards them. Lauf looked over the defences as the guardsmen continue to improve them with each passing minute. Calls for aid from the Imperial Navy had been sent to the nearest Naval Bastion, but it would still take time for them to arrive. Without the heavy warships and their firepower all the humans could do is keep preparing for the inevitable Ork assault. Scout ships incapable of more than simple reconnaissance had been investigating Secundus to see why the Orks had not yet arrived above Grael Major. The information they gathered indicated that while the Orks' crowd mentality gave them the ability to construct machinery out of scrap metal, they seemed to be having difficulty building enough ships to carry the large amount of looted weapons they took from Secundus' manufactorums and the boyz who wanted to use them. For the guard this was both a blessing a curse. It gave them more time to prepare, but they were filled with the knowledge that the Orks had a vast amount of equipment to throw at them when they did finally arrive.

Lauf watched as Kaz helped two of his men stack sandbags around a position. The Major had been at the front helping his men whenever he could. But he was also at the command centre planning out the defence with the local PDF forces. He had set them to man the most heavily fortified positions in the line. They would not be much help out fighting the Orks on the front section of the trenches, but they did free more of his men from having to man the guns at those positions. While the Major had been preparing his troops and their positions Lauf had noticed the Vindicare every so often when he had moved positions. While he had not seen the assassin given their skill at infiltration and evasion, he had been smelling the stealthsuit he wore. While the land was filled with various scents and the assassin's suit was designed to avoid detection it was not so easy to fool a Space Wolf's nose. He was impressed with the Vindicare. The positions he had been choosing had perfect sightlines to find the warboss' head through his scope. Lauf looked away from where the Vindicare is currently set up and turns towards the rear section of the guardsmen line. There he can see the three girls he has come to consider 'his pack' busy helping out however they can without their armour and equipment which had been left behind when they had escaped the Convent before they were sent away to do something else than what they were trained for.

Walking down the small hill he was standing on Lauf watched as Ashe talks with a few of Kaz's officers about tactics to be used when the Orks arrived. Meanwhile Astra is busy helping move ammunition over to some gun positions around the rear section. When she reaches one of the positions Ashe hands the ammunition off to two guardsmen who thank her for the efforts. Lauf kept walking down the hill towards the circle while he can see Cassidy talking away with a battle-hardened guardsman about the big autocannon they are behind. They were clearly in a heated debate about something with regards to the gun or some other heavy weapon it was hard to tell with the Chogorian. Walking to the bottom of the small hill he approached the large thick walls the Steel Legion established as the bastion in their lines as the two guardsmen at the gate snap to attention when they see him. The Steel Legion stopped dropping to their knee every time Lauf got near them two weeks ago to his eternal gratitude. It cut down on having to tell them to rise and get back to work during the construction. The guardsmen relax and go to open the gates into the bastion. He nods a thanks to them while he walked inside and calls out to his pack. While the first three he saw come towards him he can see the young medicae he had discovered inside the chimera treating a couple of wounded guardsmen who had been injured in the construction with broken bones or sprained joints. At first he had considered sending her back to the Convent, but if what the actions taken against the three by the Order was any indication this young girl would probably suffer a similar fate. And he was not going to hurt someone else like that if he can help it. Walking over to the medicae section Lauf watched the young blonde girl binding a guardswoman's leg after she put the compound fracture back in place. She finished the binding and carefully set the leg down on the bed while saying a few reassuring words to the woman about how her leg will heal properly as long as she let herself rest and not use it too much in the coming weeks. Lauf watched as she stood up and walked around the bed to leave nothing in between the two,

"My lord. Come to watch me work again?" The young girl asked as Lauf gave her a small grin, "No Eliza. I came over to see how you were." The young girl had revealed that her name was Elizabeth, but goes by the nickname Eliza three weeks ago when Astra and Cassidy had confronted her about her tendency to stay by herself instead of being with them during meals or when they all went to sleep. Eliza had finally given in and told them all her name at the time. After that she is dragged along with the three girls when they went around the base wherever they go,

"Thank you my lord. I'm doing just fine actually. Staying busy helps." Eliza looked away from Lauf down the row of injuries, "And I will be busy for a while here with all these injuries. You'd think that they would learn to not put themselves in the wrong positions." She stood up to go over to treat another broken bone with help from another medicae. Lauf had been watching the four the past few weeks. Even though the guardsmen had put together some armour and weapons for the girls they were woefully ill-equipped than what they had previously been with the Sisters. And they were clearly unhappy about that. Each one of them was a warrior and they wanted to fight. Even young Eliza was clearly a fighter, but one who fought to save the lives of her patients. Walking away from the wounded he thought about how he might be able to help the four girls. He could not leave them without anything to fight with. It was because of him that they are here now. As he walked he finds himself wandering along the battlements of the bastion towards a mortar position. When he walked up to the weapon he saw a pair of guardsmen resting next to the mortar while shells are piled on either side of them. A lot of the guardsmen took the chance of quiet and no officers around to catch up on some sleep. Everyone knew that when the fighting started they would be pushed to their limits trying to hold back the Orks. With this understanding the officers had let most of those guardsmen sleep. Some still get woken by a boot to the side to help add to the defences around the Hive Capital.

Lauf let these two guardsmen sleep as he looked at the field of fire this mortar has. Currently they could drop its shells in front of the entire left section of the trench system the legionnaires had built. Along with this mortar Lauf can see over two dozen more artillery pieces all able to hit this part of the defences. Lauf's lips curve up and his fangs get exposed while he imagines the piles and piles of dead Orks laying in front of the trenches,

 _This Major does know how to make certain enemies of the Imperium will bleed when they try to take one of our planets. These Orks will keep coming in excitement to get a fight. All they will find is a hail of lead._ Lauf thought when he spotted a small glint of light coming from the back of the trenches. At first he thought it's just sun-light reflecting off some piece of metal among the guardsmen's equipment and goes to look away. When he starts to turn the glint of light reappears and starts to flash in short and long flashes. He looked at it and his eyes widen, _Is someone trying to contact me?_ He wonders as he walked down the wall towards the gate. Once he is on the ground he starts to walk past the injured guardsmen where he suddenly feels a hand touch his arm. He does not look down as her scent fills his nostrils while Eliza looked up at Lauf,

"Is something the matter my lord?" Eliza asked as she stood next to him, "There is some light glimmering behind the trenches. I think somebody there is trying to contact myself or somebody else here." Lauf explains as Eliza kept her hand on his arm,

"My lord. You sure this is a good idea? I mean. Simply wandering towards a flashing light….. I don't know….. seemed very much like sticking your head inside a trap and hope that someone doesn't press the trigger." Eliza admitted as Lauf grunted before he rubbed his beard with his free hand, "I feel something calling me there young pup. I cannot explain it…" He admitted to Eliza. He did not understand why, but looking at her sparked something within him that he had not felt for a long time. His hearts throb inside his chest and the talisman hanging from his neck seemed to pulse with them. The hand that had been stroking his beard rested on top of his chestplate right above the talisman. He can feel it even through the ceramite and adamantium armour as the pulses continue. Eliza noticed how Lauf's expression changed when his hand came to the middle of his chest. She wanted to ask him what was there but holds her tongue, certain he'll tell her in time just as she told him things when it seemed to be the right time,

"Well my lord. If you're going there. It would not do to go alone." Eliza smiled, "Give me a minute and I'll grab my bag. Never know. We might had to drag some more guardsmen who tried lifting something too heavy back here for me to tend to." Eliza patted Lauf's free hand twice before she runs away from him towards a table with several bags on it.

 _For such a young pup. She is quite old in spirit. And wiser than some humans many decades older than she currently is. Almost reminds me of Stormcaller and the Slayer._ Lauf thought to himself while he saw Eliza running back to him. She now has a large satchel slung over one shoulder filled with medical supplies. Smiling as she reaches Lauf's location Eliza does not say anything as she simply follows in stride with Lauf as he walked out of the base towards the still glinting light. He moves through the trenches towards the spot where the light was coming from, passing by many positions in the trenches without saying a word to the guardsmen aside from simple mentions of apology as he moved them gently aside to keep moving along through the maze of trenches that would make any attacker suffer heavy casualties further after surviving the hail of gunfire that would pocket the ground in front of the defences.

After over two hours of passing through the trenches Lauf climbed out of the exit at the back and looked around for a source of the light. As he looked around he spotted a small mirror lying on the ground over by an abandoned warehouse. Lauf walked over and looked down at the mirror,

"My lord Redclaw. Is this what was shining that light?" Eliza asked as she leans down to pick the mirror up. As her hand clasps on the tiny piece of metal Lauf spotted a small glint extending out one side, "ELIZA! MOVE!" He shot an arm out and around her waist, pulling her away just as a wire connected to the mirror activated a trap that fires darts coated with poison into the mirror's location. Lauf moves Eliza behind him as he pulls his axe and sword off his hips. Standing at the ready he sniffs the air for any Ork scents or other threats. He picks up one smell that stood out over all the other scents and growls,

"Come out of your hiding place witch!" He snaps as a dark laugh begins to come from the warehouse, "You still are such a predictable little dog." Ramses says as he walked outside the door and set the tip of his staff down on the ground,

"And I see you brought along a little puppy to play with. I will enjoy having her along. She's quite the lovely little creature." Ramses comments as he looked at Eliza who stares him down with a bit of fear clearly showing as her hands grip the strap of her satchel so tightly that her knuckles are turning white. Ramses laughs while he looked from Eliza to Lauf, "I thank you for this gift lapdog." Lauf growls,

"Your poison WILL NOT TOUCH HER!" He shouts as he charges at Ramses with his axe raised. Ramses spins his staff and warp energy flies out past him into Eliza sending her flying into the ground. Lauf's axe hits Ramses' staff before looking back at Eliza to see if she's alive. He can see she's still alive, but looked stunned and barely conscious. The momentary distraction gave Ramses a chance to punch him in the stomach. He grunted as the fist hits him but he pulls down with the lip of his axe. Ramses cannot hold the staff against Lauf while he swings his head forward, striking Ramses in the forehead. The Sorcerer's helmet cracks from the blow as he steps a few steps back while some blood falls from the crack as he swings his staff to force Lauf away. The swing gets blocked by Lauf's frost sword and he casually flicks the staff down to the ground. As the staff goes down Lauf kicks Ramses in the chest,

"You try to corrupt loyal citizens of the Imperium. You think you will take a young girl for a plaything like some Dark Eldar psychopathic sadist. And you think I will just stand by and let you do so?" Every time he said a sentence Lauf punched or kicked Ramses, knocking him to the ground and preventing him from getting up or fight back, "Now at long last. My packmates will rest in peace." He puts his axe on one hip while gripping his sword in both hands. Bringing the point over Ramses' two hearts Lauf grits his teeth,

"For my brothers." He says while bringing the sword high when a sound comes from behind him. Spinning around he just manages to stop the claws of a possessed Space Marine as they lunge at his head. Lauf holds the claws an inch from his neck as the mutated monster howls with a bone-chilling voice that sounds as alien as could be possible to come from a former human being. While Lauf holds the monster's hands back Ramses stood up and laughs,

"Did you really think that I would not had a plan to deal with you lapdog? You really are dumber than I keep giving you credit for. Well now it's over. And time for my newest pet to join me." Ramses comments as he aims his staff to pierce through the armour in Lauf's back,

"I'm not dying here!" Lauf side-steps around the possessed and frees one hand to grab his axe off his hip. Pulling the weapon off its spot he swings the blade until it digs into the Chaos Marine's neck. Even with the strength and regenerative powers of a daemon within his body, the frost-axe's energy field splits and cuts through the flesh and bone. With a small twinge of effort Lauf cuts the former man's head off and uses the force to turn and block Ramses' attack. He glares at the eye sockets of the Sorcerer's helmet, "You keep trying to kill me Sorcerer. Yet all your pets fail each and every time." Lauf says as he brings the edges of his sword and axe closer and closer to Ramses' neck,

"And every time you come close you fail to kill me dog. You're no son of the Wolf. You're a weak pup with no real skills." Ramses' words echoed through Lauf's mind as something inside him clicked. Ramses did not get a chance to laugh at his insult as a punch harder than anything before strikes the side of his face so hard that the bottom of his helmet is shattered open, leaving his mouth exposed as he falls back to the ground. Ramses spits some blood out of his mouth and he looked at the Space Wolf. What he saw surprises him. Lauf stood in front of him but his weapons are lying on the ground while his beard and hair had changed to appear more feral and unkempt than it had been a moment before. Ramses also saw claws coming out the end of Lauf's hands. He does not get a chance to examine why this is happening when Lauf leaps onto him and starts to rake his claws across Ramses stomach, tearing the armour open around each hitch and segment. Each strike lacks the small amount of control and focus that defined the Space Wolf way of fighting. Now it was feral, uncontrolled attacks focusing on simply killing his enemy. Lauf raises one hand and swings down but misses when Ramses manages to kick him away. He stood up looking at Lauf and laughs,

"I knew you and your chapter are nothing more than mad dogs! And now you're showing the truth within!" He laughs while he raises his hand, channeling warp energy. He only glances up to see how much energy he had gathered but it was enough for Lauf to tackle him again and drive his extended fangs into his shoulder. He did not had any control or restraint as he tries to crack the bone in Ramses' arm. All he wanted is to kill his enemy. Ramses shouts in pain as he tries to make Lauf let go while avoiding his claws that keep trying to tear out his throat or his intestines. Nothing he does with striking with his limbs or the quick warp spells he manages to casts are able to force the enraged and half rabid Space Wolf off him. Lauf kept attacking while he howls with savage rage at Ramses. Every second that Ramses is alive only fuels his anger at the traitor and makes each strike or to be more accurate, each attempt to remove each and every organ from within his body to outside it becomes a heavier and harsher blow.

As Ramses tries to force his staff underneath Lauf's stomach to push him back he suddenly feels Lauf's claws reach under his chin at the point where his helmet and neck armour meet. His eyes widen as the claws begin to dig into the armour,

"Get off me you mad dog!" He shouts while trying to push Lauf off before he manages to pull his helmet off and reveal his face after over 10,000 years to the galaxy. At that moment he can feel the claws start to pull the helmet away from the connecting point in the neck armour. With a shout he speaks in an ancient tongue causing burst of warp energy exploding in between him and Lauf sending him fly away across the open area. Ramses manages to stand up with help of his staff, his armour now in tatters but still intact somewhat from the razor-sharp claws as Lauf shakes his head to get rid of the remaining bits of energy from that strange spell still in his body. Ramses looked at the Space Wolf in shock and confusion,

"That spell should had turned you to dust. It was pure raw energy from the Immaterium, yet you still stand." Rames kept looking at Lauf as he stood back up and charges at him again. He thought the story that the Space Wolves were supposedly more resistant than most Space Marines to the effects of Chaos was nothing more than simple propaganda made by the Wolves to hide the effects of their pathetic primarch's genes to the rest of the Imperium. But here was one of these Space Wolves unaffected by his spells more malevolent effects. It should had turned him into a mindless chaos spawn. Instead he was turning into one of the human-wolf hybrids the Space Wolves did not speak about, a Wulfen. Lauf brings his claws back and lunges forward at Ramses. He quickly waves his hand in the air disappearing in a cloud of black fog. Lauf's strike hits nothing but air as he stood in the dissipating cloud. He sniffs the air for a few seconds before spinning around and punching into seemingly empty air. His fist cracks loudly as it connects with Ramses' face making his invisibility warp spell fail while his other hand grabs him by the throat and lifts him off the ground,

"Kill me like this lapdog. And you will prove how feral and pathetic you and your pack are." Ramses manages to say. His words seem to have reached Lauf's ears and he hesitates. His fist remains wrapped around Ramses' throat but it does loosen slightly. In that moment Ramses releases a spell from his mind that knocks Lauf back to the ground as he stood there, "Again you are a pathetic waste of….." Suddenly bolter rounds strike Ramses' shoulders followed by one striking above his knee-armour, shattering the bone underneath. Even as his super-human physiology starts to repair the damage of the wound almost as soon as it was done Ramses still shouted out in pain, turning to see who had dared to harm him.

Astra, Ashe and Cassidy had run through the trench as fast as they could. Without their power armour they had moved quicker than normal. When they heard that Lauf and Eliza had gone off to examine something they had seen behind the guardsmen's lines Ashe had felt something was wrong and gathered the other two to come after them. The scene they came on when coming out of the trench was shocking. Eliza was lying on the ground barely moving and a Space Marine wearing the attire of a traitor Space Marine Sorcerer they had never seen. But the most shocking thing they saw was a strange looking creature that seemed to resemble Lauf lying on the ground at the feet of the Sorcerer. Whoever this was they weren't certain if he/it was friendly or a threat. But was certain was that the Sorcerer was a traitor to the Emperor and needed to die. Without waiting for the three to say anything all three former Sisters opened up with the bolters the guardsmen had managed to scrounge up for them on the Sorcerer. Their shells hit the traitor and drew his attention to them,

"HOW DARE YOU INSECTS STRIKE ME!" He shouts as he raises a hand and aims an orb of warp energy at them. All three see a flash of light and for a moment they thought their lives would end right there at the hands of this traitor. Instead they can see the orb exploding above them in the sky. Looking down to see why the attack missed their eyes widen as they see the creature resembling Lauf clutching the Sorcerer's elbow while the traitor saw terrified while he tries to escape the creature's grasp. Lauf's eyes lock on Ramses as his grip starts to tighten, "Let. Go. LAPDOG!" He shouts. Lauf responds with a simple growl before he tightens his grip further and pulls. Armour bends and cracks, skin tears and splits, muscles shreds and snaps away, bone breaks and shears apart as Lauf pulls harder with a rising howl of fury. With a loud and gut-wrenching split Lauf tears Ramses' arm off and throws it aside. There is a moment of silence while the blood flows from the stump before Ramses begins to scream in shock while he clutches the wound as it seals up, "YOU! YOU! YOU!" He shouts right before suddenly disappearing into a sudden Warp portal. The way he fell into the portal meant he had not chosen to go into it as he continues to shout until the portal vanishes from sight. It just leaves the Sisters alone with Lauf still in this strange Wulfen form though the three Sisters still did not know it was Lauf.

Astra watched in horror as the creature walked towards Eliza still lying on the ground barely conscious, "Don't you dare touch her creature!" Ashe shouts as she runs towards the creature to put herself between Eliza and him. Just as Lauf reaches out towards Eliza Ashe manages to get close enough to grab onto his arm. As soon as she touches the armour Ashe's green eyes suddenly change to the same colour as the armour on the arm.

She looked around as she can see light blue energy coming out around Lauf's body, especially from around the middle of his chest-plate. She does not listen to the sounds coming into her ears from around them while she reaches up towards the brightest point of the energy on his body. When she puts her hand directly over the energy she saw several ghostly figures surrounding her and this creature. One of the figures looked down at her and smile. The one closest to her lifts his hand up to put it on top of hers over the chest-plate. Ashe does not know who this person is and she would not know the relationship the ghost of Bjarke would had with Lauf,

"Young pup. We cannot help him with the way we are now. But you all can. And we will help you." He says with a kind voice while the glow below Ashe's hand gets so bright that she cannot see anything. The glow stays for a few minutes as Astra and Cassidy can only watch as the two seem frozen in time. But as the glow begins to disappear in Ashe's eyes the other two can see the creature begin to change. His hair recedes slightly from its wild appearance to look better kept and cared for while the claws disappear from his fingers. Their eyes go wide as they realize it is Lauf and all go towards him while Ashe finally removes her hand,

"Sister? What? What happened?" Lauf demands as he looked around, trying to find Ramses, "Big brother? Are you alright? What happened? Do you remember anything?" Astra asked as she comes over to the two. She set her hand on top of his forearm while looking up into his eyes, clearly worried about him. He frowns while trying to think, letting his mind drift back to figure out the answers to her questions,

"The last thing that I…. that I remember was that Sorcerer insulting and calling me weak. After that…." He looked and noticed the signs of battle, including the arm lying on the ground, "It's all a blank. Who… who removed the arm from the traitor?" He asked but the looked from the girls tells him all he needs to know. What exactly happened to him just now? He was still a Space Marine, had he secretly fallen to the Curse of the Wulfen? That should not be possible, when someone fell to the Curse, there was no going back. Yet here he stood, the same way and fully aware of who and what he is. He looked down at his hands while the Sisters gathered around him. He has to take a few deep breaths to get his mind in order,

"Where's the pup? Is she alright?" He suddenly remembered Eliza and frantically looked around before his eyes settled on her still form. Pushing the others aside he runs over to her. Dropping down to one knee he feels a weight lift off his shoulders when he feels her chest rise and fall steadily, _Thank the Allfather she is still alive and whatever poison he tried to use on her has not taken effect._ He thought while gently picking her up. Once he had her safely in his arms he turns back to the other three with a steely gaze,

"Come. We need to get her checked on by proper medicae personnel." He gave the statement not as a suggestion, but as a pack-leader to his subordinates. The girls all smile at him, glad to see the confidence back after that moment of hesitation. Even though he was a Space Marine and practically a demi-god compared to them, it was a bit refreshing to be reminded that Lauf was still as human as each of them and thus subject to the same things other humans feared and worried about. It was something that showed Lauf was not a perfect being like the Emperor. It made the moments when he showed his strength all the more impressive in their eyes as they follow him towards the medicae section in the guardsmen's defences.

 **Finding their way** through the trenches several guardsmen stop what they were doing and watched the sight passing by them. The Space Wolf and three walking Sisters they knew well, but only a few who had been injured in the construction process recognized the young girl being carried in Lauf's arms. No one said a word to them as the guardsmen gave them silent respect. They looked like they had come from a hard battle and none of the Legionnaires would insult them by asking about it right now. Instead they moved aside to let them keep walking through the tight twists in the trenches as Lauf holds Eliza close to his chest while he leads the group towards the medicae facility. Word reached the bastion and the medicae within before the small group arrived so two medicae personnel were waiting for them with a stretcher. Seeing Lauf they give a small bow to him,

"My lord. We can take the young Sister inside and start treating her." One of the two said as they approached Lauf. For a moment his grip tightened on Eliza's shoulder in a protective gesture but he quickly relented and hands her to the two medics. When they had her safely they carry Eliza onto the stretcher and set her down so she is comfortable and safe before they picked the stretcher up. Making sure they both had a firm grip they moved inside the bastion while Lauf saw Major Kaz come out of the open doors with a small guard, "Major." Lauf says, his voice hiding the exhaustion he was starting to feel. Even with his enhanced physiology he still needed to sleep. Kaz nods respectfully to Lauf and to the three sisters,

"My lord. Lady Sisters. I take it you will tell me what exactly caused a young Sister Hospitaller to be unconscious and all of you look as if you just fought a fierce battle?" Kaz comments as Astra and Ashe look at each other while Lauf coughs, "Major. We encountered a mutant creature that had come up from the Underhive. It attacked us and knocked the young Hospitaller out. We managed to kill it. And before you ask I doubt there will be more of those creatures coming out to attack your soldiers." Lauf's comment reassured Kaz and he simply nods,

"Very good my lord. I am glad to see that I can always trust your skills to look out for my men." With a slight bow Kaz turns around and walked back into the bastion with his guards while Astra puts a hand on Lauf's arm, "Why didn't you tell him about the traitor big brother?" Lauf kept looking at the door of the bastion not meeting Astra's eyes, "There are things in this galaxy Astra that the regular soldiers of the Imperium do not need to be aware of. It's not because I don't trust the Major. He is more than competent and clearly loyal to the Emperor. It's because I don't trust what others might do with the information or to the Major and his men if it was discovered that they were aware of the Sorcerer's presence on this planet." Lauf knew that the Inquisition was well known in the Imperium. But only in its role as a secret police force that would spirit citizens away or burn worlds for reasons only they knew. At least that was what they made the average citizens believe. He was aware of its true mission to protect the Imperium from the machinations of Chaos both due to his chapter's tales about encounters with the Inquisition and with his own run-in with Inquisitors.

"I need to go speak with the Major's Astropaths. You should all go over to the medicae and be beside the pup's bed. I'm certain she would be happy to see some friendly faces when she woke up." Lauf smiled reassuringly at the three before he walked inside the Bastion, followed closely by them before they split off to go to the medicae while he went to the astropathic choir. He had a message to send. And he hoped that the energies of the warp would not stop it from reaching its destination, _I must be mad thinking to make this request. But by the Allfather I had to make it._ Lauf thought to himself while opening the door to the astropaths' quarters.

 **Far from** Sub-Sector Grael, standing a close vigil to the eternal warp storm known as the Eye of Terror lies Fenris, most dangerous Death World in the Imperium and home to the Space Wolves. Inside their fortress known as the _Aett_ to the Space Wolves, but better known as the Fang to the rest of the Imperium the Sons of Russ rest and ready themselves for the next time their lords call on them to defend the Imperium from the myriad threats it faces in the galaxy. Deep within the giant fortress the massive forges burn, overseen by the Iron priests of the chapter who forge the weapons of war their brothers will carry. One such Iron Priest, Garjek Blackhand wipes a small amount of sweat from his brow before making a final inspection of the bolter he had forged. While he does not smile Garjek is pleased with the work and he hands it off to a thrall-servitor that waited for the weapon. The cyborg turns and rolls away to put the weapon up in one of the Great Company's armouries. It rolls past one of the human thralls who approached Garjek and drops to one knee when he stood before the Iron Priest,

"What is it thrall?" Garjek demands not really concerned about the appearance of the thrall in his forge, "My lord Blackhand there has been a request made for your services." "By who?" Garjek was not some show-boy to be called up to dance to anyone's tune, "By lord Redclaw. My lord." The thrall's response stoms Garjek for a second, "So the whelp lives huh?" He asked, glad to hear that Lauf was still alive, "Very well. What is it he wants?" The thrall whispers the request in Garjek's ear, "I see." With a wave of his hand he dismisses the thrall who bows before retreating from the forge. Garjek turns back to his forge and immediately orders thrall-servitors to bring him the materials he needs while he begins to heat the forge until it blazes white-hot.

 **While Garjek worked** on his forge, Lauf stood beside the bed where Eliza slept. The medics had worked quickly on her. She was healthy physically speaking, but she had not woken for two days. It was worrying as she continued to toss in her sleep, seeming to be bothered by whatever she was dreaming about. Lauf was not the only one worried about the young girl. Ashe, Astra and Cassidy had also stayed around the bed to make sure Eliza was alright. Over the past two days the four had been working on a shift of two watching her while the other two either went to get food or sleep. Right now it was Lauf and Ashe's turns to watch the bed while Astra and Cassidy were off sleeping. Again Eliza was tossing in her bed, sweat dripping down her forehead. Ashe carefully wipes the sweat away while Lauf gently poured water from a bowl into her mouth, making sure she swallowed instead of inhaling it. As he moves the bowl away Eliza suddenly starts to cough a little. Lauf immediately puts his hand on her back, turning her over so she might not accidentally throw up and choke on it. Ashe looked at Eliza's face while she kept coughing making sure that she can open her mouth if need be. After a few more violent coughs Eliza stops and breathes a few more times before her eyes begin to open. Ashe smiled happily at the young girl which Eliza returns while she tries to sit up in the bed. She almost falls back onto the bed but Lauf's hand quickly supports her body and she twists as best she can to smile at him,

"Thank you my lord." She says, her voice hoarse and dry. She coughs a few times after talking, bringing up her hand to cover her mouth while Ashe offers her a cup of water. She takes it gratefully and carefully drinks the contents, "We were worried about you Eliza…." As soon as Ashe said her name she spat out the mouthful of water on the bed and glares at Ashe,

"Don't call me that! That false name is a lie!" She says this with a growl in her voice that surprises the two watchers, "What are you talking about? You told me your name is Elizabeth and you prefer being called Eliza." Lauf comments as Eliza glares at them before taking a few moments to calm herself down and sips some more water,

"Sorry my lord. I think I should start from the beginning." She begins telling them about how she spent the last two days with what she thought was a really strange dream,

"In this dream I was on a stony beach with frigid cold water splashing around my ankles. I could see some large ships on the shore with people all around them. They looked like savages with simple weapons at the level of a feudal world population. While I watched a saw a young girl with blonde hair running around with other children around a large fire while women and men were sitting at the fire. One man who had the same blonde hair called to the little girl." When she mentions the man Lauf noticed tears well up in Eliza's eyes before she continues with the story, "He called her Ealasaid and motioned her over to him. This little girl ran over to the man while a group of Ecclesiarchy officials appeared walking toward the ships. I watched as a missionary among the officials came forward and declared that the tribe owed a tithe to the Ecclesiarchy. One old man commented that they did not owe anything to them and that if they tried to force the issue the gods would come down from the mountains and show them the meaning of that mistake. The preacher shouts, calling the group heretics and how the tithe was not much higher to repent for this sin." Eliza continues, "When the Sisters of Battle tried to move forward to take children the people all raised weapons and dared the power-armour wearing women to try and take their children. At that moment a man in black armour with a wolf skull helm on his head appeared as if from nowhere." Eliza's description makes Lauf's eyes widen. This… she was describing one of the Wolf Priests. Which meant the world this dream occurred on…..

"When the armoured figure appeared he began to attack the Ecclesiarchy members without any discussion. But I saw one of the Sisters grab the little girl Ealasaid and run into the transport the Ecclesiarchy had brought with them. The little girl had fought the Sister but she could not escape. After she was strapped into one spot in the transport the remaining survivors from the attack by the black armoured man ran inside and they closed the transport's door. As they set off the planet the little girl screamed that she wanted to go home. The preacher told her to be quiet. And called her Elizabeth. She said that was not her name, it was Ealasaid or the nickname her family gave her, Ella." She looked from Lauf to Ashe,

"When the young girl repeatedly refused to be called by this new name the preacher made a hand-signal. And a psyker came from deeper in the ship. He placed a hand on the girl's forehead before muttering something. I don't know exactly what it was. But when he removed his hand from her forehead she asked who she was. The preacher then said she was Elizabeth, an orphan they had rescued and were bringing to a Schola Progenium." Eliza's eyes were now almost completely filled with tears as she looked at the two,

"That little girl. The one who was stolen from her family. And had her identity stolen…." Ashe pulls her into her chest and tightly hugs her, "That was you." She mutters, "Yes. My real name. Is Ealasaid. Or Ella. Of the Ice Fiend clan. And my homeworld. Is Fenris." She says the last part proudly as Lauf feels the need to unclench his jaw which he did not realize he had tighten while listening to Ella tell her story. He did not know that there was a final piece to the dream that she kept quiet. She had stood before a pitch black sea and a voice told her that now she knew the truth, it was up to her to decide whether or not she would plunge into the sea for herself or for the Imperium. The dream had ended before she had given her answer. Now she knew her true identity. And who her real family was. The four who now crowded around her wanting to make certain she was alright. Three Sisters who loved her and a big brother who was both a caring guardian. And in his own way a kinsman to her.

 **While the four** united in a new way two figures hidden by shadow were furious at someone, "He was supposed to stay transformed!? Yet this was the result?" "We did not anticipate some sort of protection from the enhancement taking effect. But nevertheless. We know it worked. Now all we need is to make this dog transform and stay that way. Once that experiment is successful we can cast it upon the rest of his pathetic chapter. As our master wishes. Then each and every child of the wolves will suffer for what they had done." The two figures place their hands on their chests and disappear.

 **TO BE CONTINUED…..**


	16. Coming of the Valkyria

**695.952 M41**. Segmentum Tempestus, Sub-Sector Grael, Grael Major, Hyflala zone.

It had been one month since the encounter between the Sorcerer and Lauf. There had been no other sightings of Ramses since then, but the young Space Wolf stayed alert. He doubted the Sorcerer had left yet. He had badly wounded him and what he had learned about Ramses in this time told him that he would be back for revenge soon. Turning his mind away from the Sorcerer, Lauf looked over the maze of trenches, redoubts, firepits, gun-positions and trap systems the Armageddon Steel Legion had built in the time they had been given by this long delay. The last two weeks had seen them double their efforts to make these fortifications as defensible as possible. The scout ships Major Korrel had watching Secundus had informed him that the Orks finally had workable ships and were starting to depart Secundus in droves. They were coming for Grael Major as fast as their ramshackle vessels could move through real-space. Even though some Orks had the ability to travel through the warp, the defenders of Sub-Sector Grael were fortunate enough that their enemy apparently did not have any of the mechanics the Orks called Mekboyz who was intelligent enough to build such a device. So the guardsmen had some more time to prepare, and they had used it.

Along with the lines of trenches, the guard had also been busy recruiting thousands of inhabitants from the local cities and hives to fill the ranks and man defensive positions. Even the most incompetent among them was intelligent enough to be taught how to load, use and quickly fix a heavy machine gun. All these new recruits/conscripts and labour battalions the spire nobles provided the Guard to protect them with gave their commander, the young major Kaz, some breathing room in his plans. With these soldiers he could take more of his regular guardsmen from manning those positions and place them in the frontlines or in the armoured vehicles that they brought with them. As well as the manpower the planet had given, the manufactorums present had been turned over to producing necessary ammunition and weaponry to give the guard an even better fighting chance. Towering above all the preparations, Imperatus Rex stood ever vigilant, a reminder that the guard were not alone in this fight. The titan had moved around a few times when the guardsmen had been digging trenches near its feet, and Princeps Alexia had told Kaz over vox that she would help however she could. Lauf smirked as he watched another trench being finished by the labour battalions. This was the most amicable relation he had seen between the different forces in the Imperium during his hunts for Ramses, which was going to be vitally important when the Orks finally arrived. He shook his head before turning to look at the four sisters who came up from where they had been helping treating wounded soldiers and citizens.

They looked at him with small frowns on their lips as they got closer to the Space Wolf as he where he remained standing on top of the bastion's wall. In the past month, he had never spoken about what happened to him when he fought Ramses. Just thinking about what they told him about the appearance he had in the period where he had blanked out brought deep and regretful shame to Lauf. He knew only too well about the curse of the Wulfen, and that each and every one of the sons of the Russ had to face it in their lives. During his induction into his chapter, two of his fellow initiates had succumbed to the curse before they could become full-fledged Space Marines, and had to be restrained and taken deep into the Aett, to be released and unleashed only on the order of the Wolf Lords when they needed the raw strength of the deadly Wulfen. Lauf thought he had managed to overcome the curse's effects during his tests to become a Space Wolf. Now he wondered if instead of overcoming it, he had simply suppressed its effects all this time. The thought made him worry about his worthiness to be as a true son of Russ. This worry shamed him to no end, and he showed this shame by keeping his own counsel and avoiding talking to virtually anyone.

Seeing the four girls approach, Lauf turned to leave and keep away from them again when Ashe calling out stopped the Space Wolf in his tracks, causing him to clench his teeth. Walking away now would only make them suspicious and worried about him, and he could not leave them worrying about him. Not when an enemy like the Orks were coming.

Sighing and taking a moment to compose himself, he turned around and gave the girls a fake smile. "Pups. I'm glad you're alright," he said, trying to keep a façade of relaxed anticipation, as a Space Wolf was supposed to be. The four however had spent enough time around Lauf, even if it had only been a few months, to tell that Lauf was lying through his teeth,

"Big brother. Don't try that with us. We've been around long enough, and I remember how you were when we first met that we know something's wrong," Astra answered for all of them, earning nods of agreement from Ashe, Cassidy and Ella. The looks in their eyes told Lauf there was no point in trying to disguise his feelings like some Inquisitor snooping around.

His lips droop from the false smile to a low frown as he kept looking at the girls while they came up to form a small semi-circle in front of him. "You all know the encounter with that traitor witch a month ago?" Lauf asked.

The girls all kept looking at him, their eyes belying the same message, "Yes. What of it?"

He sighed again as he steeled his nerves. He never thought he would be so nervous to talk to regular humans. _'Why am I feeling like this? I am a son of Russ. Not some Lion-loving pansy who can't speak at the proper sound of my voice when someone asks me what I'm talking about in secret,'_ he thought while he leaned stood up to his full height.

"During that fight you saw I had….. changed. Into that creature," he started, still having the full attention of the girls. "That transformation…. Is called the curse of the Wulfen. The geneseed of our Primarch Leman Russ, the Wolfking, imbues us of the we Vlka Fenryka with many abilities among those other Space Marines possess. But there's a price. If you're unworthy to be a son of Russ, the blood we take in during our initiation turns you into a cursed wolf-hybrid, condemned to either be held in the deepest pits of the Aett, or the Fang, released only when the Great Companies go to war against the enemies of the Imperium. Or cast out to wander the frozen wilds of Asaheim, the only permanent continent on Fenris."

When Lauf stopped his little explanation he surveyed the girls' faces. Aside from Ella who understood most of what he said, Ashe, Cassidy and Astra all appeared completely lost with the conversation, "Uh big brother?" Astra spoke asked Astra.

"Yes?" said Lauf, urging her to continue through his tone.

"What is a Vlka Fenryka again?" Astra's question brought a laugh from Lauf that persisted for almost a minute. That one laugh released a month of anxiety and shame before Lauf finally stopped and explained each term to the girls. By the time he had finished they all understood and all looked at him with deep sympathy clearly visible in their faces.

"So this… curse. Can it appear at any time?" asked Ashe.

Lauf shook his head, "It seems that it only appears at specific times when I fight." He wanted to mention that he suspected it was whenever someone called him weak. But he was not certain that was the trigger. If it was, it could be very dangerous if he was called such a thing by an Imperial officer. So for now he admitted only what he knew for certain.

"So in other words. If someone gets stupid with you, you will tear them to pieces with freaky powerful claws. And nasty jaws huh? That actually seems cool!" exclaimed Cassidy, to which Ashe and Astra shot a glance at Cassidy her. Unlike the three light skinned (seems potentially offensive) former Sisters of Battle, Cassidy was interested in Lauf's change and how it could be helpful in a battle.

"That may be true young Sister. But it also leaves me an uncontrollable beast, as likely to attack a friend like you as an enemy," Lauf explained. "So it's very much a double edged sword."

"I guess I got over-excited at the prospect of tearing an enemy apart with my bare hands," Cassidy admitted, getting a light smack to the back of her head from Ashe.

"If someone dropped a las-cannon in front of you, you'd forget yourself to grab and test it out," said Ashe with a hint of a chastising tone in her voice.

Cassidy gave a small smirk while she rubbed her head where it had been hit. Ashe looked away from Cassidy to Lauf, "Big brother. Do we have to worry about you losing control about this? Should we inform Major Korrel and have him…"

"No!" exclaimed Lauf suddenly. The sharpness in Lauf's response made the four jump slightly while they could see Lauf's hands had tightened into fists before he took a moment to calmed himself.

"I'm sorry. But it would be better if Major Korrel did not know. He has enough to worry about without his men having to fear me losing control in the middle of a fight. When the Orks come I assure you there will be enough for everyone to be kept busy without being concerned about my control. As long as I am pointed at the Orks, only the greenskins have to worry about how much I keep control of my frost-axe and sword," said Lauf with a proud smirk, as he tapped the top of his weapons, bringing prompting the small smiles to form on the faces of the four. Astra stepped forward and wrapped her arms gently around Lauf's waist, much to his surprise, but he did not push her away.

The older girl held the hug for a little bit longer before she finally broke it off, still looking at Lauf, "I had no idea you had this sort of burden to carry big brother. You won't have to carry it alone. Will he Sisters?" Astra glanced back at the three.

"No you won't," Ashe said with a smile while Cassidy looked up from her fingernails which she had been looking at, a bit bored with some of the parts of the conversation.

"It seems that being around you will be much more exciting than simply waiting around here," said Cassidy grinned as she took a step forward to stand beside Astra and Ashe. All eyes turned to look at Ella who stood a bit behind where the three had been.

She looked into each of the older servants of the Emperor before finally looking at Lauf, "I was a girl lied to by the Ecclesiarchy. Stolen from my home, given a false identity and I accepted it. Now that I know the truth. I want to be around those who I consider real family." She smiled, "So big brother. If it means you will not lose control of yourself. I will happily be with you when you finally get that traitor in your hands." She said as she walked up to fill the empty spot with the three girls in front of Lauf. He had no idea that Ashe was thinking about the strange spectral figures she had seen when she had helped him turn back from the Wulfen form to his true body. She wondered who exactly they were and what they meant by the fact they could not help him, but Ashe and the other girls could. Unaware of the worry in Ashe's mind Lauf smiled at the four. Young girls and not with who did not have any of the enhancements a Space Marine had, but they had the heart and stubbornness of any other Space Marine. They reminded him of an old tale that came from his homeworld, of women who had fought alongside the Primarch Leman Russ before he had become king of the tribes. Warriors who had fought as hard if not harder than the men who were with Russ. But for the life of him he could not currently remember what those women were called. _'Allfather why could I not have a Skall here to remember that tale?'_ Lauf thought to himself, but kept the thought from his face as he felt the bond strengthen between them.

"Thank you. All of you," Lauf said as he looked at the four girls. A small smile creeped onto his lips as he brought them all into a group hug. Thanks to the number of them his strong arms and armour did not crush their bones by accident. The tender moment is suddenly ended when Lauf noticed a scent he had not smelled for several months come from the road leading towards the bastion. Turning his head to see the road his smile turned into an open frown while a growl came from his throat. He could see several vehicles bearing the colours of the local Adepta Sororitas Convent driving towards the bastion. Among the vehicles he could see a few Rhinos, a pair of Immolators and even an Exorcist. Gently letting go of the girls he moved so they could not see the vehicles.

"Wait here," he said before he started walking down the stairs from the wall of the bastion towards the gate. The girls all looked at Lauf walking away from them, confused about what was happening until they saw the convoy of Sororitas' vehicles. All four gave each other looks of fear and worry. If they were right these Sisters were coming for them. Lauf reached the bottom of the stairs just as several dozen guardsmen ran towards the gates. One squad ran past him up the stairs to get on top of the wall as he continued towards the entrance to the fort. His hands gripped the hilts of his sword and axe, ready to pull them out if trouble began. As he came through the gate he saw all the defensive turrets and firing slits in the walls had soldiers at them with weapons pointed at the Sisters of Battle as they rolled up to the gate. As he stood behind the line of guardsmen who had positioned themselves between the gate and the Sisters of Battle who stopped in front of them. Watching the Sisters Lauf could see an elite group of Sisters exit one of the Rhinos and establish a perimeter. Shortly after the last Sister took up a position the Canoness who Lauf had faced down before came out, followed by Seraphim Riviel and those Sisters he had not put down like the dogs they are. They all looked at the guardsmen as if they were bits of garbarge that stood on their path. Lauf was not the only one who noticed these looks.

Kaz also saw them but did not immediately mention them while he stared directly at the Canoness. "This is an honour Canoness. To what do I owe the pleasure of you and your Sisters arrival?" Kaz asked, ever the respectful guardsman officer even while the Sisters glared at him.

"You have some traitors in your midst Major. And I want them returned to my Convent to face punishment for their crimes," Canoness Galolis stated as her Sisters cocked their weapons, causing the guardsmen to hold their weapons up at the ready, aimed directly at specific Sisters. Even if the Sisters handheld weapons had a bigger punch than the guardsmen's las-rifles, there was more than a dozen guardsmen to each Sister present and with their heavy weapons they more than out-gunned the Sisters of Battle right now. So if they did something as stupid as try to force whatever issue they came here for, it would be a bloodbath. Lauf grinned as the Sisters clearly saw the reality of their situation.

Their fingers moved away from the triggers of their weapons while the Canoness kept her eyes focused on Kaz. "I'm afraid Canoness that I do not know what it is you speak of," Kaz commented, remaining calm and controlled. He stood with his hands folded behind his back resting on the point of his hips while his feet were kept slightly apart, showing how relaxed he was even with the Canoness glaring at him, "All that are here are my soldiers, the conscripts we collected to give us a better chance against the coming Orks and the construction battalions gifted to us by this planet's government. And of course my lord Space Wolf." He motioned to Lauf behind him with a slight lean of his head, making Seraphim Riviel and her dogs look at him with murder in their eyes. Lauf stayed in the same place while his hands rested on his weapon-hilts. The sight of the weapons made some of the Sisters shiver a bit in fear. Even with their faith and certainty in their own purity, they had seen and felt the bite of those weapons. Lauf's confidence in his own actions infuriated the Sisters who believed what they were doing was correct, and it was the only thing that was be correct.

But they held their tongues and fire while the Canoness spoke up, "Three months ago there was a raid on my convent. Three Sisters being punished for their failure were kidnapped from their repentance posts. There was also a young Hospitaller medicae who was kidnapped along with the repentents." The Canoness explained as she took a step closer to Kaz, "Some of my Sisters told me that a Chimera with your forces' colours was used as an escape vehicle. And the turret was manned by some woman with your colours." Lauf did not see it, but his enhanced hearing heard the sound of a hand slap tightly over a mouth. He had no doubt that was Fumes clamping Lazie's mouth shut before she said anything about the rescue. The silent mumblings he could hear told him Lazie did not appreciate her sergeant's action, even if he had done the right thing.

Of course none of the Sisters or Kaz had heard the small event going on behind them while Kaz brought one hand up to tap his chin, "Hmm… That is strange. Three months ago I had heard one of the chimeras I sent on a supply run had been taken by some young men and women of the nobility for a joy-ride. They might have decided to cause trouble for you my lady Canoness. I did speak with the Nobles of the spire. You know how they behave when you try to tell them that their scions cannot just take military equipment for their own personal use. Of course I got the Chimera and my soldiers back unharmed and the noble families promised they would deal with their children."

The Canoness clearly did not believe the story, but if she wanted to press it, she would now have to go speak with the Nobles who had barricaded themselves up in the spires of the Hive Cities. She did not want to speak with those spoiled, pampered pains right now.

"We both know that soon there is a horde of Greenskins coming to burn and pillage this world. If we don't stand united against this threat. Then we can die alone," Kaz calmly explained the situation, to the Canoness' frustrated agreement. She was not a foolish woman. She understood that they all needed to fight together, secure in their faith in the divine Emperor in order to defeat the Orks that were coming.

"Very well Major. My Sisters and I will depart to prepare. But I warn you, if you survive this battle we will be back to learn the truth about what happened here," she warned before turning and walking back towards her transports. As she did, Seraphim Riviel stood a little while longer glaring at Lauf before she followed her leader. The Sisters all loaded back into the Rhinos and as one the Sister convoy turned and drove away from the guardsmen bastion to the grinning pleasure of the soldiers from Armageddon. Their commander had just put the Canoness of those religious zealots in their place without a shot needing to be fired. It did a lot to boost the soldiers' already high morale knowing that the Sisters of Battle could not simply push them around whenever the urge hit them and their commander wouldn't stand by and let it happen. They waited until the Sisters' vehicles were out of earshot before some guardsman shouted, "Three cheers for the Major lads! Hip hip!"

"Hooray!" The soldiers all shouted their support for their commander while he turned around and walked towards Lauf as the cheers continued. Once he got close enough to Lauf he could see the Major was shaking a little bit. He was young and clearly had experience in combat, but even that was an ordeal for the Major.

"My lord. Thank you for letting me handle that. It did a lot for my men," Kaz said, respectful of Lauf still even here.

"Major. All my interference would have done is caused some of your men to be killed by those fanatics. That I would not forgive myself for. Besides, it does a lot to remind such a full-of herself leader like that Canoness and her Sisters that just because you're a guardsmen of the Imperium does not mean that you are worth any less than they are," Lauf said, making the Major smile slightly.

"I am thankful for that my lord. I have heard many stories of Astartes who see the guard as nothing more than a shield to absorb enemy fire while they proceed to go and win all manner of glory in the God-Emperor's name," said Kaz in response.

"That is not the way of the Vlka Fenryka, Major. My Jarl, Logan Grimnar, has no time for the Administratium, the Ecclisarchy, or the Inquisition. But for the regular soldiers and citizens each and every single one of us would take on an entire army to save a few thousand human lives," Lauf's statement could be heard by many guardsmen around the gate where the two stood. Lauf noticed they all held their weapons a bit tighter and stood more proudly on their spots at the wall.

Kaz also noticed the looks of his soldiers and smiled, "Thank you my lord. Your words and presence is going to do more than an entire company of any other chapter to boost my men's determination to fight."

Lauf knew this was mostly bluster. He would prefer having the rest of his Great Company and the Jarl of all Space Wolves here to fight against the Orks. But for now if his presence gave the guardsmen a boost in morale that did not come at the end of a Commissar's las-pistol, then he was fine with letting this belief persist, "When the greenskins finally arrive, I will show what a son of Russ can truly do Major. Now you best see to your men. We don't have much time before the Orks arrive, and every minute we spend preparing means some more dead Orks and a better chance for your men to live through this fight."

Kaz nodded as Lauf began to walk away from him back towards where he left the four girls. As he left he could hear the Major call out for his sub-commanders and commissar to get the final stages of their defences prepared. Lauf let his teeth show in a small girn. They would survive this battle with men like the Major to command the guard.

Back inside the section of the bastion they had taken as their own residence, the four girls who were now with Lauf sat around doing small tasks to help the guard. Ashe and Ella were wrapping bandages they had made from sheets they had 'requisitioned' from some abandoned houses after its people had fled into the relative safety of the Hive cities and their giant, heavily fortified walls. Already the two had managed to fill an entire wall compartment's worth of bandages and they had several dozen more sheets to turn into bandages, ready to be used for the inevitable casualties that would come into the medicae. While the two wrapped up the bandages, Astra and Cassidy were busy charging las-packs and loading ammo-belts into packs to go to the trenches. All four put their whole effort into the tasks they were completing, but their hearts were not in the tasks like they usually would be, not even Ella's. They had seen the Sisters arrive and expected at any moment to be dragged out of the bastion and back to the Convent to face punishment for 'deserting'. That thought did not make them all that excited to stay waiting there and made them very jumpy. When they heard the door begin to open Ashe and Cassidy jump out of their seats with small spikes they had made from pieces of metal they had put together, ready to attack whatever Sisters tried to drag them out of there. When they saw the colour of the armour that was opening the door they immediately calm down and smiled as Lauf walked inside the room. Ella put down the bandage she was wrapping into a ball and rushed forward.

Her jump and hug caused Lauf to gasp a bit in surprise as she put her arms against his abdomen in a loving hug "Big brother! You came to say goodbye to us?" she asked, looking up at his face, sneezing a bit when Lauf's beard tickled her nose, making Lauf chuckle as he moved his beard so it was not tickling her anymore while she continued to hug him as tightly as she could, her arms not able to wrap around his body and armour.

"No little pup. I am not saying goodbye to any of you any time so soon," Lauf explained as the girls all looked at him, confused by his certainty in his statement. Lauf noticed the confusion coming from the girls and continued smiling, "The Canoness had come to try and drag all four of you back to their little Convent to suffer for choosing to join us in actually fighting what is coming." He raised one hand up to silence the questions and comments that he could see where about to come out of their mouths, "Fortunately for all of us, the young Major has shown that he has more courage than arrogance. Which is quite a different state than what I have encountered with most guard officers. It is a nice change. And it gives me assurance that you will not be taken simply because the Canoness shows up demanding it." Lauf gave the four a very large grin, letting them all see his extended fangs and canine-white teeth, "We are all in good hands. And when the Orks finally do arrive. Which by now should not be too long, the Major will likely shame that Canoness to come out and join the battle. Either directly as he did today, or through his simple command of the defences. After all, no self respecting member of the Adepta Sororitas would want to let a bunch of guardsmen show them up in fighting against a bunch of xenos." Lauf laughed a little at the mental image he just created as he pictured the Major and his guard standing proudly over the pile of Ork corpses while the Sisters of Battle had to bow before them because they hid inside their Convent instead of coming out to fight against the Orks. The girls giggled a litte, able to see the image as well and making them feel a bit more relaxed alongside the knowledge that they are being protected from their former commander's attempts to drag them away.

Just as Ashe was about to speak they can hear an alarm begin to drown out all other sounds from outside the room, "Is that…."

"They've arrived," Lauf stated as he moved his hands away from Ella's sides and pulled the axe and sword from his hips before he began running out of the room followed by the four girls to see what was going on. As they came out of the inside of the bastion they could see bright lights in the sky, indicating the places where the large defensive batteries in the Hive Cities fired at the Ork ships which had finally arrived above Grael Major. Small burning flashes across the sky brought cheers from the guardsmen and conscripts when an Ork ship fell apart from that defensive fire even before the Orks had landed. Lauf spared the explosions above only a momentary glance before he started running to find the Major. He wanted to quickly confer with him before he went into the trenches and he wished to find out if anything had changed as a result of the confrontation with the Canoness. He took a few whiffs of the air, picking up the scent of the Major and ran.

He moved around groups of soldiers running towards the trench systems as he headed towards the Major's location where he could see several guardsmen officers standing around the Major listening to him give them some final orders. Just when he arrived the officers all left the Major to carry out whatever he had told them to do.

Kaz looked around and saw Lauf approach, "My lord. Time to see whether or not all these defences I've planned out will actually save a few more of my men's lives against these Orks. Especially now that I can see that there are far more Orks that I planned for," Kaz admitted as he looked over his planning map.

"You do realize that with so many Orks. It just means one thing," said Lauf, a humming sound comes from his axe and sword as the power-fields activate on them. "It just means that there are more Ork heads for your soldiers to collect at the end of this battle," he said with a toothy grin . "Now I'm going out to the front-line and show those little troops of yours how to truly kill the Emperor's enemies."

His purposeful over-confidence in his skills did help reassure Kaz and he nodded to Lauf, "Very well my lord. I will send a message to the commander there to let her know you're coming."

"Better make sure your commander also knows that I will do anything possible to kill as many Orks and save as many of your soldiers' lives as I can. Even if that means I have to lop their heads off to stop a stupid order," Lauf spoke honestly to Kaz. The Major had proven himself worthy enough to be told the full truth and understand the reality of Lauf and what he would do to save Imperial citizens' lives. Kaz had come to understand what type of Space Marine Lauf was and what he was going to do. So he was not going to try and tell the Space Wolf he could not go and do something. As the old saying among the guard went, "The best way to get a Space Wolf to do something was to tell him not to do it." Kaz knew this was a fight he would not win if he tried to pull any sort of rank over Lauf, not that it mattered anyway. As a Space Marine, Lauf did not have to answer to him or most Imperial guard officers. The respect he had currently been shown made Kaz feel very inclined to let Lauf do what he wanted/needed to do,

"I understand my lord. Take care of yourself. I hope to try some of that ale your homeworld is known for when this is over," Kaz smiled at Lauf as he started to put his rebreather helmet on.

"Don't worry Major. I will make certain you get an entire barrel after this," Lauf grinned before he looked up and saw burning lights flying across the sky. The first Roks to break through the defensive fire to come towards the surface of Grael Major. He smiled as his enhanced brain calculated the trajectory of the Roks and figured out they were heading exactly where the Guard had planned for them to land on. Lauf did not have to ask if the guard had figured this out too as the shockwaves from the earthshaker cannons in the bastion and within the trenches began to fire, "Time to show these Orks Imperial steel," Lauf said before he started off towards the trenches, running through the gates of the bastion just as they opened to let a platoon of conscripts out to make their way towards the support trenches where they would man all the static defences there and reap a bloody toll on the Orks who were coming.

As he ran into the trenches Lauf moved by guardsmen making all the last minute preparations in their positions. All these guardsmen stopped this and moved out of to the sides of their trenches when Lauf came through. Many cheers went up when the guardsmen saw him, but none were foolish enough to stay in his path as Lauf ran through the reserve trench sections of the guardsmen line. The steady fire of the earthshaker artillery made everything present rock slightly from their shockwaves and the ears of those who had never heard them before ring as the soldiers began taking their positions on the side of the trenches facing towards the place the artillery was firing at. Lauf felt the shocks and smirked. He had seen the aftermath of a guardsmen artillery bombardment. After this he imagined the area they were hitting was currently being turned into the landscape of an asteroid cratered moon. Turning down one trench Lauf got the chance to see the signs the guard had put up, "Helsreach point." And "von Strabb's home" the two signs said, indicating the start of the support trench lines and the trench latrine to be used only during emergencies, named in honour of the incompetent planetary governor of Armageddon who had very nearly allowed the world to be lost thanks to his stupidity and foolish military decisions.

' _Seems even guardsmen have a sense of humour. Who would've thought?'_ Lauf joked to himself as he took the path towards Helsreach point trenches while passing a guardswoman on her way to von Strabb's home to 'leave a gift for the governor' as they called it. Running along the bottom of the trench Lauf watched as one guardsman showed two conscripts some last-minute pointers to help them man the heavy bolter they were in charge of handling. Such small incidents were occurring all along the support and reserve trenches that Lauf had run through as the veterans made sure their conscript charges were focused on their tasks rather than panicking over the coming Ork assault even while their artillery kept firing. None of the guardsmen were foolish enough to believe as some of the conscripts naively thought, that the heavy artillery was completely destroying the Ork invasion and thus they would not need to fight the Orks at all. The guardsmen of Armageddon had fought the Orks enough to know the greenskins were 'right tough bastards' as they called them and even with all those artillery firing, many Orks would still survive and come at them. And now they would angry over being attacked from such a distance when they could not fire back. And angry Orks were quicker to come looking for a fight. So they prepared for the incoming tide as best they could in these final minutes of 'calm' before the true storm finally arrived.

As Lauf ran down the trench towards the frontline trench called "Hades' Dominion" in honour of where the hero Commissar Yarrick made his stand against the Orks he could see the stern faces of the guardsmen more clearly as they climbed onto the firing step of their trenches. The soldiers nodded to Lauf as he passed. He smirked as he continued moving through the trench. He was glad they kept their weapons up and towards the location the Orks would be coming from. The sound of more artillery pieces opening up told Lauf the Orks were getting closer with each passing minute. A loud hissing sound drew Lauf's attention over to a Manticore artillery piece nearby as its missiles shot off its racks to unleash their deadly ordinance on the Orks. The missiles leave trails of smoke marking their path towards their destination while Lauf finally reached the frontline trench "Hades' Dominion" where he could see a Steel Legion Captain giving orders out to soldiers climbing back onto their side of the trench.

"Get moving you lot! You're not on the parade square like a bunch of Mordians strutting down the street!" A woman's voice comes from behind the mask. "You're guardsmen of Armageddon! You want to do something that Commissar Yarrick hears about and feels disappointed?" Her question gets a resounding "NO!" from the Steel Legionnaires in the trench as they finished setting up their weapons and manning their positions. The captain turned around and looked at Lauf, "There you are my lord. Glad you are here to join the party."

Lauf nodded, "I'm going to show you and your boys how to properly kill Orks captain."

He said, flashing her a grin that made her laugh, "Well my lord. Let's see you do it. In the meantime we're going to show you how guardsmen of Armageddon kill Greenskins." The captain stated when they can feel the ground begin to tremble, "Here they come." The captain drew her chainsword from her hip.

Lauf walked around the captain and climbed onto the side of the trench and glanced over the parapet beside a heavy bolter position. He could see the explosions from the guard artillery and now minefields were blowing entire groups of Orks apart as the tide of greenskins came running towards them. The main guard weapons stayed silent as a roar of "WAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!" erupted from the Orks as random bullets flew out of the Ork horde towards the Imperial lines, who kept running in spite of the dangers. Some of the Orks who were blown apart keep trying to crawl towards the guardsmen in spite of losing their legs or arms, or half their bodies from the Imperial artillery. As the Orks got closer more Imperial artillery opened up until all pieces from the heavy basilisks down to the individual squad mortars were firing at regular intervals, putting as much ordinance down on the Orks as they could. But still the main line held their fire while the Orks continued to charge.

When the Orks got within 500 metres to the guardsmen frontline Lauf heard the captain shout, "For Armageddon! For Yarrick!" All down the trench las-weapons and heavy weapon systems opened up, sending a hail of laser and slugs towards the Orks. The frontline of Orks fall to the ground riddled with holes in their heads and other parts that would be considered central organs. Lauf grinned as the guardsmen continue to fire in steady, controlled motions as the Orks pile up in front of their trenches. The Steel Legionnaires fire away as the Orks start to fire back with their shootas, rattling away with cheers of "WAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH" from the greenskins as they continue to try and reach the guardsmen trenches. Any time the Orks try to split and attack from the flanks they run into another minefield the guardsmen had buried on the different sides of their trenches. Of course the Orks do not stop, simply running in the areas where previous Orks had already blown up the mines. Even with the heavy firepower and the piles of Ork building up the greenskin tide slowly moved towards the humans. The guardsmen do not panic as these approaching, raging and eager for violence Orks get closer. Instead they simply continue firing their weapons, stopping every so often to reload their weapons, taking them off the line for only a few seconds before they go back to firing away. Lauf held his weapons tightly as he saw them get closer. Soon the Orks would be inside the trenches and then the guardsmen would be in trouble.

But when the Orks get to within a few hundred metres melta, flamers and some of the buried tanks added into the defensive line unleash their terrible weapons. They incinerated Orks in the path of the weapons as the scene began to look like something out of a true Armageddon nightmare as fires, burning bodies, explosions and incredible amounts of ordinance being fired across the open ground. The screams of agony as Orks are burned, blown apart, shot through, or disintegrated managed to come over all other sounds while Lauf watched the Orks get closer and closer. Finally one Ork Nob managed to make it through the entire wall of Imperial guard firepower. He leapt into the air, choppa ready to come down on a guardsman's head. Just as he got close to the guardsman his choppa got blocked by Lauf's axe as he also swung his sword up, burying it through the Ork's gut. The Nob shouted in pain right before Lauf quickly let go of his axe and punched him so hard that his head flew into the wall of the trench. The Nob twitched a few times and then lay still. Lauf quickly picked his axe up and attacked the next Ork to rush into the trench. Tackling the Ork he knocked him against the wall and stabbed him through the neck when he grunted forward as an Ork choppa him across the back as another Ork came up behind him. Grunting he spun around, driving his axe into the Ork's head. The energy field surrounding the blade cut through the Ork's flesh, bone and brain matter until its head peeled open like a flower. Just as he took his weapons out of the dead Orks more Orks rushed into the trench and started to surround him. He spun around to attack the nearest pair when four Orks fell to the ground with bolter rounds in their heads. The guard in the trench had moved away from the close quarters' fighting so it could not have been them who had shot these Orks while Lauf decapitated the other two. As the heads fall to the ground he turned to see who had shot the other Greenskins,

"You think just 'cause we don't have our equipment we're useless big brother?" Astra demanded as she, Ashe and Cassidy all carried regular bolters they must have taken from somewhere else.

Even though they had the weapons in hand Lauf could see it was a struggle to continue holding them, "No I don't. I just did not want to bring you here when you were serving such a useful role back at the bastion." Lauf explained as the four joined him inside the trench,.

"Well. We're here now. And we're going to help these men and women to deal with these greenskin bastards!" Cassidy exclaimed as she eyed the heavy bolter manned by two guardsmen. Lauf looked at the four girls and was about to tell them exactly where they were about to move to when a sound made him look up at the sky. When he looked up he could see a light directly above them, "OUT OF THE WAY!" He lunged forward and pushed all four girls aside as a drop-pod suddenly crashed into the ground right where they just were. Lauf spun around expecting at first Orks to rush out of the pod. But his surprise was replaced with confusion as he looked at the drop-pod. It had Space Wolf colours on it, and with the emblem of the Great Wolf on the sides. _'Why is a drop pod of the Jarl here?'_ Lauf wondered as the doors of the pod opened.

Ashe ran up and looked inside. Whatever she saw inside made her smile, "Hey girls! Come inside here!" She shouted to the other three who quickly ran inside the pod, leaving Lauf alone in the trench. He wanted to peek inside the pod before he climbed back up onto the fire step to see over the trench. He saw another group of Orks coming towards him while other Orks ran towards other parts of the trenches. Stepping back down into the centre of the trench Lauf waited for the Orks to arrive with both his weapons at the ready. The dozen approaching Orks run into the trench and immediately rush towards Lauf. The first two that get close fire their hand-held shootas which miss him completely while he ran towards them and swung his axe and sword. Both weapons cleave through the greenskin flesh with very little resistance as he spun around and stabbed one Ork through the chest with his sword on his right while he swung his axe up to bury one side of the axe through the gut and inside its chest.

The Ork with his frost axe in its chest roared before reaching to grab onto Lauf while other Orks rush towards him as his weapons were inside the two. He growled while trying to remove the weapons to face these enemies. Just as one of these Orks was about to swing its choppa to cut through Lauf's neck there was a loud burst of bolter fire that tore the new Orks apart. Lauf grunted as he pulled his weapons out of the two Orks and smiled at what he saw. In front of the drop-pod he could see the four girls. But before they had mis-matched clothes and old bolters. Now they stood proudly wearing power armour and carrying well-crafted weapons. What made him smile even more was the colours of the armour. They were the dull grey-blue with wolf-pelts draped over their shoulders of the Vlka Fenryka. Ashe smiled at him as she held the new bolter with a snarling wolf on the barrel, "Did you come up with this for us big brother?" she asked as Lauf grinned while Ella approached. She did not have any weapon in her hands, just a large satchel carrying plenty of medical supplies,

"This was inside the pod big brother. It's for you," she said as she held a dataslate out for Lauf to read. He took it and carefully read its contents. As he read it Ashe and Astra watched both sides of the trench while Cassidy ran up to the firing-step and sprayed any Orks who tried to take advantage of this small lull with her new heavy bolter. After a few minutes Lauf put the dataslate away,

"I believe it's time to move. We need to stay with the guard as they fight. These Orks are not going to get this world. Not if we can help it," Lauf gave the command and the four gathered around him, "Come….. Valkyria." He smiled as the four all stood a bit taller at their new titles and fell in behind Lauf, running towards the sounds of fighting further over in the trenches. They knew this was going to be tough, but now the pack was together and the Orks would learn how much difference this would make.

 **Above Grael Major** the few defence monitors that had not already been destroyed by Ork kroozers were trying to stop more Orks from being transported down to the planet's surface. But the second-line ships were barely a match for one kroozer, let alone several. While these ships fought for their lives a lone strike cruiser moved away from the planet. The crew of the Space Wolf ship grinned as their bombardment cannon hit one of the smaller Ork ships right in a weak point, causing it to disintegrate in the void. They had achieved their mission, dropping off the equipment Garjek Blackhand had built for lone wolf Redclaw and this group he had gathered and now they had some kills to go with it. Now they hoped their brother found his prey, kill him and return home to the _Aett_. But they did not think about for too long as the strike cruiser charged up its engine and flew into the warp, returning to other battles elsewhere in the galaxy.

 **TO BE CONTINUED…**

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** This chapter has taken a fair amount of time to post and I apologise. Unfortunately the next 12ish months are going to make things very spotty for posting new chapters. I will still do my best to post as often as I can. But I ask that you all continue reading and please post what you think of the chapters. If you wish to offer suggestions to make new chapters better I always appreciate it. But I do not like people giving it scores. Everyone has their own opinions, and yours could be very different than mine.

Thank you, ICW.


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